Stuck
by LauraBolton
Summary: Elliot is a drunk and takes out his anger on Olivia. When the rest of the squad begins to notice, will she report it, or will she just take it to protect his kids? Please Review! First Fanfic ever.
1. Chapter 1

Fanfic #1

Elliot walked over to Olivia sleeping on the couch. "Hey, Liv, wake up. We have to get going."

She rolled over and groaned. "What time is it?" She didn't wait for him to reply and looked at her watch. She groaned again. They were going to be late to work if she didn't get up now. They both got ready and headed off to work together. They walked into the precinct and tension filled the air. "What's going on guys?" Elliot asked Fin and Munch.

"Our victim was found dead this morning and our only suspect is in the wind." Munch replied, glancing up from his work.

_This is going to be a long day._

10 long hours later, Cragen came out and announced he was leaving and told the others to do so as well.

"Cap, I've got to finish up this paper work." Olivia said, not looking up.

"I guess that means I'm staying too." Elliot said while very obviously wanting to go home.

With that, everyone else left, leaving Olivia and Elliot alone. "How much longer are you going to take, Liv?" He groaned. "We've already been over everything."

"At least I care about my job and don't sit on my ass all day." She snapped back at him, obviously not in the mood to be rushed.

"Excuse me?" Elliot said getting up. "I've done just as much as you have."

She didn't say anything. She only glared at him.

"What is your problem, Liv?!" He yelled at her, now standing next to her desk.

She threw her pen down. "You are!" She shouted back, standing up. "All you ever do is lounge around and drink. Maybe that's why your wife left you because you don't do a damn thing." She knew she had gone too far but she didn't care. She was sick of him always bossing her around.

"You want to see me do something?!" He yelled in her face. She turned her head to the side so she didn't have to look at him. Before she knew what was going on, the back of his hand hit her face. She yelped in pain as she fell against her desk.

"What the hell, Elliot?" Olivia asked furiously, rubbing her cheek.

"Don't disrespect me again." He growled at her and started to walk toward his coat

"You're threatening me now? Wait till Cragen hears about that." She spat.

He stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to face her. "You're really going to tell the captain on me?" He started walking toward her again.

"Do it again, and I will." She said, grabbing her coat and purse. Elliot only chuckled, grabbed his stuff and walked out.

They didn't speak the entire drive home. Once they got there, Elliot went to check on the kids. Everyone was sound asleep. He went back downstairs and grabbed a beer. He drank the whole thing within a few minutes and cracked open another one.

"El… you should slow down a little." Olivia said slowly.

He only looked at her then proceeded to chug to whole thing to show her that she wasn't the boss of him. She scoffed and went to take a shower. After about 45 minutes and 4 more beers later, he was way too drunk. He started opening another one when Olivia came in and stopped him.

"Elliot, I think that's enough." She said, grabbing the beer from him.

"You don't tell me what to do!" He yelled and snatched the beer back from her.

"Elliot. You're kids are here. Do you really want them to see you like this?" She said sternly reaching for the beer again.

"I said, you don't tell me what to do." He slammed the bottle onto the counter so hard that it shattered. Then he slapped her again, but with enough force to knock her to the floor. He laughed, grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked her up. "This is MY house, you dumb bitch!" He yelled as he threw her to the floor again.

"Elliot, stop yelling!" She said, trying to keep her voice steady. "You're going to wake the kids." He just looked at her smiling. That sent chills down her back. She got up and started talking softly, trying to calm him down. "El, you just got your kids back, if anyone hears about this-"

"Nobody will hear about it because you're not going to say anything." He said as if he were stating a fact. Her eyes opened wide with shock.

"I told you if you touched me again, Cragen would have your ass." She said angrily.

Elliot grabbed her upper arms and rammed her into the wall with a huge thud. "If you tell Cragen I guarantee you won't be able to next time." He growled quietly to her.

"Get off me!" She yelled trying to push him back, it worked the first time and he stumbled into the counter. He cut his hand on the broken glass.

"Oh, you're going to regret that." He grabbed the broken half of the bottle and hurled it at her, but missed. She thought about how her mother once came at her with a broken bottle. She was terrified and bolted out of the kitchen into the bedroom. She slammed the door and tried to keep him out. "Open this door, NOW, Olivia. I'm not finished with you!" He kicked in the door and sent her tumbling to the ground. "Now was letting me in here really that hard?"

He walked over to her, grabbed her by her arm and threw her against the wall towards the bathroom. "I just want to talk." He said as she backed inside the bathroom. She went as far as she could before she reached the sink. _There is nowhere to run or hide here. _Elliot walked in and saw the obvious fear on her face, though she tried to hide it. "What are you so scared of, Liv?" His eyes were soft and sincere. "Me? Why honey?" He reached up and ran his fingers along her bruised cheek. She turned her head slightly so she wasn't facing him.

"You're drunk El... I think you should go lay down." Olivia said, hoping he had calmed down. The softness quickly escaped from his eyes and they were once again cold and filled with rage.

"I thought I told you not to boss me around!" He yelled just an inch from her face.

She flinched away from him, squeezing her eyes shut and they began to tear up.

He backed up a few steps and she sighed with relief. Her relief didn't last long. Out of nowhere he punched her in the stomach. She dropped to her knees and doubled over in such agonizing pain she couldn't talk. Before she even realized what he had done, he punched her again, in the face, which sent her spinning backwards and she hit the wall. "I hope you learned your lesson. Maybe next time it won't hurt so badly." And with that he shut the door and went to bed, after having one more beer of course.

She lay on the bathroom floor for about ten minutes before she got up and checked on the kids. All were asleep, but Kathleen. "Hey honey, why are you awake so late?"

"I'm not deaf, Liv. What happened between you and dad downstairs?" She asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

"Uh... He had a bit too much to drink and got a little impatient with me. Everything is fine though, he went to bed." Olivia said, trying to convince Kathleen and herself. Kathleen obviously didn't believe Olivia any more than she did. "He didn't hurt me, honey." She tried reassuring her.

"Then what happened to your face and what are these?" She asked, knowingly, pointing to the hand print bruises that had formed on her upper arms. _Damn, I forgot to cover that. I'm such an idiot_. She ignored the question. "You should get some rest. Everything will be fine in the morning." She got up and walked out.

She went back downstairs to clean up the glass. She heard footsteps follow her. She turned around and started, "Kathleen, go back to bed." Then she realized it was Dickie.

"Olivia, are you okay?" He asked, staring at her bruises. "What happened to you?"

"It's nothing, I'm fine." She paused for a moment before adding, "It's late. You should go back to bed."

He looked at her for a short moment then noticed the glass and beer on the floor. "Olivia… Did Dad hurt you?" He asked quietly.

"No, he didn't. He just got a little frustrated with me. Everything is okay now." She said.

"But Liv-" he started before she cut him off.

"I'll be okay, Dickie. I can handle it. Try to get some sleep, okay?"

He looked at her with sad eyes and slowly said, "Okay… Goodnight." He went back upstairs.

Olivia put on a sweatshirt before anyone else came down to see her. She cleaned up the glass and spilled beer then went to lie on the couch. She couldn't get comfortable. Everything hurt. She began to cry thinking about what happened. _How could he do this? He's my partner. It's okay. I'm okay. He was only drunk. He wouldn't do this sober. He didn't mean it. I shouldn't have snapped at him. It's my fault._

Olivia woke up and started getting ready for work. After her shower, she stood in front of the mirror. She traced the bruise on her face from Elliot slapping and punching her. She ran her fingers down to wear he punched her stomach. She fought back tears as she got dressed. She applied makeup over the bruise on her face, though it was still visible through it all.

When Elliot finally woke up, Olivia was already almost ready for work. "Why didn't you wake me earlier?" He asked groggily looking at the clock.

"I figured you could use some rest," She said. "We're not going to be late if you get ready now."

Elliot stood there for a moment; she feared he might yell at her for being bossy. He just nodded and walked off. _Does he not remember last night?_

Once again the car ride to work was quiet. They were the last ones there. Everyone looked at them as they walked into the squad room. "Hey Liv, hey Elliot" Casey said.

"Hey Case." Elliot replied. Olivia only gave a small smile.

"Woah, Liv. What happened to you?" Fin said, noticing the bruise that she tried to cover. Munch stood up and started toward her.

She threw her hands up and said, "Guys, it's not a big deal, just some dumb drunk guy on the street last night, who looks way worse than I do." Everyone seemed to accept that and she went to sit back at her desk. The squad room was silent for a moment before Cragen dropped off some bad news that their other victim had gone missing.

Elliot punched his desk and it made Olivia jump. Nobody except Casey noticed that Olivia was shaking as Elliot began yelling, "This whole case is screwed up! We can't even do our jobs right and now another little girl is missing and probably dead." He punched his desk once more and Olivia jumped again, this time, everyone noticed. Elliot stormed off to the locker room mumbling to himself.

"You okay, Liv?" Casey asked carefully. "You're so pale." She started walking towards her.

"I-I'm fine." She managed to stutter out, not making eye contact. "I just have to run to the bathroom." She practically sprinted out of the squad room. Cragen told Casey to follow her and figure out what's going on, then ordered Fin and Munch to start hunting down the man who took the girl.

Casey got to the bathroom and Olivia wasn't there. She looked into the locker room for Elliot, maybe he knew. He wasn't there either. Something didn't feel right about this. She began to jog past the interrogation rooms when she saw them both in one. Elliot was yelling at Olivia.

"Maybe if you did your job none of this would be happening!" He shouted at her.

Olivia stood her ground and yelled back, "How is this MY fault?!" She was furious. "I am so sick of you blaming everything on me!"

Casey didn't know what to do, so she only stood there and watched through the window as they yelled at each other.

Elliot started walking towards the door. "Going to go and have another drink, El?" Olivia spat. "You're kid's sure love when you do that." He was suddenly in her face.

"You don't get to talk about my kids!" He screamed.

"I'm the only one who takes care of them! You barely even notice them! Maybe if you're head wasn't so far up your ass you could see that!" Olivia yelled back to him. Casey's stomach dropped as she watched what happened next.

Elliot snapped. He grabbed her by the neck and threw her into the window. Glass shattered everywhere and Olivia slid to the floor.

Casey ran in and shouted, "Elliot, what the hell?!"

Olivia put a hand to the back of her head and felt warm blood and glass. "You bastard. What's wrong with you?!" He ignored her question, grabbed her by the arm and yanked her to her feet.

"Elliot, stop!" Casey yelled as she pushed him away from Olivia.

"Fine, but this isn't over!" He yelled as Casey hustled Olivia out of there.

Halfway down the hall, Liv stopped and looked at her. "Casey, nobody can know what actually happened, okay? This has to look like an accident."

"Liv…" Casey looked at her friend in shock. "Why shouldn't we tell Cragen?"

"Because, it's my fault, I set him off and I know better. Casey, please. We need to tell everyone that Elliot pushed me and I tripped and hit my head." She was shaking badly.

"Fine. For now, but we need to get you to a hospital." Casey said, reluctantly.

As they walked into the squad room, Cragen saw that Olivia was hurt. "What the hell happened?" Just then Elliot walked in.

"It was an accident, Cap. Elliot and I were arguing and I wouldn't let him leave, so he pushed me out of the way, but I tripped and fell into the window." Olivia explained. She glanced at Elliot who looked shocked that she covered for him.

Casey locked eyes with Cragen and he knew Olivia was lying. "I need to get Liv to the hospital, Don." Casey said, helping her out of the building and to the hospital. She only needed a few stiches in her head, and then she could go.

"I called Cragen and told him to give you the rest of the day off." Casey told her.

"That was very generous, but I need to get back to work." Olivia protested.

"Not today you don't. Come on, I'll take you home." Casey told her.

"Uh, I'm actually staying with Elliot right now."

Casey's eyes widened with shock. "You're going to stay with him after what he just did to you?"

"I'll be fine, Casey," She tried to reassure her. "He only gets like that when he's really mad or-" She cut herself off before she could say any more.

"Or what, Liv?" Casey asked. "Has he done this before?" When Olivia didn't say anything, Casey figured out what was going on. "He has hasn't he? Is that what this bruise is from?" Casey asked, tilting Olivia's head back to get a better look. "Olivia. You can't stay with him."

"I have nowhere else to go..." Olivia said quietly, trying not to cry. She felt bad for not telling her best friend what was going on, but it only happened once.

"You'll come stay with me." Casey said. "Let's go get your stuff."

Obviously not going to take no for an answer, Casey started driving to Elliots house so Olivia could get her things. When she got there Elliot was home and the kids were gone. "I'll be right back, Casey." She said getting out of the car.

"You're not going in there alone, not after what happened." Casey stated, getting out of the car too and following Olivia to the door. They both walked in and found Elliot sitting on the couch holding a beer.

"Shit." Olivia said under her breath. "He's drunk, Casey. I really don't want you getting hurt."

"I'm not leaving you, Olivia, and that's final." Casey said, staying with her.

When Elliot finally noticed them, he staggered up off the couch. "You dumb bitch." He said walking towards Olivia. He didn't even notice Casey until she stepped between them and shoved Olivia into the bedroom to get her things. "Get out of my way, Casey! I need to talk to Olivia." His breath reeked of booze and he was right in her face. She had never seen him this drunk before.

"Not right now you don't." Casey said firmly, although feeling scared of what he might do. "She's staying with me for now, until we can figure this whole thing out." She said, blocking his way once more while he tried to get past to Olivia. She was rushing to get her things together.

"Get out of my way, before I make you." He growled at Casey. She looked directly into his stone cold eyes and felt so much fear, but stood her ground.

"No. You don't need to talk to Liv right now. It can wait." He took one step back, and Casey let her breath out. Then she was hit. Elliot had punched her jaw and knocked her out of the way. She tried to catch herself on something, but there was nothing there to stop her from crashing to the floor. He then walked over to Olivia who was in the bathroom fumbling over her stuff.

"Hey, Liv." Elliot said while smirking. Olivia did her best to ignore him, until she tried to push past him to leave. At first, he stepped to the side, and then as she walked by he grabbed her already bruised arm and slammed her into the wall. "You think you can walk out on me just like that?!" He yelled at her.

"Elliot, stop! Let go of my arm, now!" Olivia hissed at him, trying to rip her arm from his grasp, but he was too strong. "I'm leaving whether you like it or not!"

He slapped her and shouted, "You're not going anywhere!"

When she looked back toward him, she noticed Casey getting up from the ground holding her newly bruised jaw with tears slowly falling. The fact that he hit her friend infuriated her. "You hit Casey?!" She screamed and spit in his face. "You're disgusting!"

He let her go to wipe her spit off his face. Olivia and Casey ran out of the room, forgetting Olivia's things. "Liv, get back here! I'm not finished talking to you." They heard Elliot yell from down the hall.

Once they got to the door, they saw that it was locked. While Casey fumbled with it, Elliot had caught up to them. He grabbed Olivia by her hair, pulling her away from the door. When she started struggling to get away, he used his free hand to grab her waist and pick her up. Olivia shrieked, "Let go of me, Elliot!" which made Casey turn around just in time to watch Elliot throw her into the kitchen.

Before Olivia could react, he punched her in the stomach and sent her falling back into the counter, breaking some glasses. "Now look what you've done!" He yelled, slapping her again, causing her to scream out in pain. "This is all your fault." He left her alone in the kitchen and walked back to where Casey was. "You're going to leave, now. None of this ever happened. Now get out."

She began to protest when she heard Olivia call from the kitchen. "Can I at least see Liv before I go? Then I will leave. Alone." He thought for a moment then stepped aside to let Casey pass him.

"Olivia… Oh my god. Are you okay?" Casey said, kneeling down to where Olivia crouched on the floor, clutching her stomach.

"I'm fine, Casey. Please just go, I don't want you getting hurt. He doesn't mean it, he's just drunk. Please Casey." She was begging her friend not to tell what happened. "I don't want Elliot to lose his job, and I can take care of myself. I will talk to him when he is sober and try to convince him into therapy or something. Please Casey; can we just keep everything between us?" Olivia was on the verge of tears.

Against her better judgment, Casey agreed not to say anything and walked out, past Elliot and out the door. Elliot walked into the kitchen and looked down at Olivia. "You made me look like an idiot at work in front of everyone." She tried her best to ignore him, which only set him off. "Answer me when I talk to you!" He yelled, pulling her to her feet.

"I don't know what to say, Elliot." She said softly.

"Apologize! Now!" He screamed.

"What for? I didn't do anything wrong. It's not my fault the other girl went missing or that you can't control your temper at work!" She didn't mean to add the last part and regretted it.

"Excuse me?" He said, backing her into the corner. "It is your fault. If you weren't so damn incompetent I wouldn't have to do these things." He grabbed her hair, flipped her around and slammed her head into the cupboard over and over. When he stopped he faced her back toward him again, "Are you ready to apologize to me?" He tugged on her hair harder when she didn't say anything. "Olivia! Answer me!"

"Elliot, please stop." She cried, squirming to get out of his grasp.

"That doesn't sound like and apology to me!" He pushed her to the floor.

"Elliot, I'm sor-" He cut her off with a hard kick to her stomach.

"I can't hear you!" He yelled as he kicked her once more.

"I'm sorry!" She screamed.

"What are you sorry for, Olivia?" He said, kneeling down to her.

"I'm sorry for making you look bad at work." She could barely get the words out.

"Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" He said, smoothing down her now tangled hair. Her only response was a small whimper.

He got up and started walking away. "I'll be back." Then he walked out the door.

She didn't move from that spot on the floor for a good half hour. When she finally did get up, her head throbbed. She reached into the freezer and grabbed an icepack and went to lie on the couch.

He was gone for about an hour and a half. He walked in with flowers and chocolate. He had sobered down. "Liv," He started, "I am so sorry. I don't know what came over me. I guess I'm just stressed from the case." He handed her the chocolate and put the flowers in a vase.

"Elliot," Olivia started to say before he cut her off.

"Look, I said I was sorry. I won't do it again. I just had a little bit too much to drink, that's all. I would never want to hurt you." He said, very sincerely.

It was getting close to dinner time. "How about we order some pizza?" She asked hoping to change the subject.

"Sounds good to me." Elliot laughed.

It had been a few days since Elliot had a drink. He seemed back to normal and almost all of Olivia's injuries had healed. They had just wrapped up their paper work at the precinct when Casey walked into Cragens office. That bruised spot on her jaw was barely visible, but enough for Olivia to see. Elliot didn't notice her, but Olivia did. _Oh god. What if she told him what happened the other day. He's better now. _She walked out 30 minutes later and exchanged a quick glance with Olivia. Casey seemed terrified and gave her an "I'm sorry" look.

_She told. I'm dead._

"Elliot. My office. Now." Cragen demanded, angrily.

Elliot looked straight at Olivia. "I swear to god, Liv, if you said anything…"

"Now Elliot!" Cragen yelled again, getting impatient.

Olivia couldn't move. _What would he do if Casey really told the Captain?_

Cragen spoke first. "How's everything going, Elliot."

"..Fine. You?" He responded, confused.

"Yeah? How's Liv doing? She seems a little rattled. Is something bothering her?" He questioned.

"Not that I know of, Cap." He lied, "you know Liv, don't ask, don't tell."

"Okay." Cragen said, not believing him. "Oh, and Elliot, after you shoved Olivia into the window, by accident, I don't want you doing something like that again, so you're off the case." Putting a large amount of emphasis on the word, "accident."

"Captain, I-"Elliot began.

"I don't want to hear it, Elliot. Go home." Cragen said, opening the door for him to leave.

He stormed out of his office, holding himself together in front of the Captain.

"Is everything okay?" Olivia started.

"No. We're going home. Now." He said, not even looking at her as she flinched at the sound of his tone.

"I need to finish up a few things here, first. I'll take a cab." Olivia said, not wanting to be alone with him.

"We're going now." He grabbed her coat and handed it to her, knowing the captain is watching.

"El..."

"Olivia. Don't start. Let's go." He grabbed her hands and hauled her out of her chair smiling. "Don't act so afraid or Cragen will know something is up." When Elliot went to grab his coat, Olivia shot a terrified glance at Cragens office. She hoped he saw her, but he was looking down at his desk. _Shit._ Olivia was already shaking. He wrapped his arm around her waist and walked out of the precinct.

The car ride home was once again silent and the air was so thick it made Olivia nauseous. She looked over and saw that Elliot was gripping the steering wheel so hard, his knuckles were white. "El. Please calm down a little. What happened with Cragen?" She asked gently, hoping not to set him off.

He said nothing. He only gripped the wheel tighter. Olivia knew she had made a mistake by asking him.

They pulled up in the driveway and Olivia couldn't get out of the car quicker. She practically ran to the door and into the kitchen.

"Liv?" Elliot called. His tone made her freeze.

"Yes, Elliot?"

"Do you think Casey would have told Cragen about the other day?" He asked, calmly.

"Um, I don't know. Why? Is that what Cragen talked about?" She ventured. He ignored her question and got himself a glass of water. "You don't want a beer?" She asked, relieved that he wouldn't be getting drunk.

"Nah, I want to be sober for this." He said. Before she knew what he meant, he had grabbed her by her hair and smashed her face into the counter. "This is what you get for ratting to Cragen!" He pulled her back up so that she was looking at him now.

"Elliot," she screeched, trying to pry his fingers from her hair "I didn't tell him anything! I swear. Elliot, let go!" When he finally released her, she tried backing up, but was stopped by the opposite counter.

"You're a liar." He spat at her. "It couldn't have been anyone but you or Casey, and that bitch knows to keep her mouth shut, but you, all you're good at doing is complaining about everything!"

She was shocked. He was completely sober, screaming at her. _What has gotten into him?_ "I didn't tell Cragen anything! You have to believe me!" She said getting frustrated.

He picked up on that and screamed, "No I don't!" in her face. She tried turning her head but he grabbed her jaw and yanked it back so she was facing him. "Look at me when I talk to you!" She closed her eyes and inched away from him. "Did you not hear me?!" Elliot yelled even louder. He grabbed her by the shoulders and started violently shaking her. "Look at me!"

She opened her eyes and looked right into his. They were blazing with fury. "Elliot," she whispered, "I didn't do anything.. Please. You're hurting me." He didn't care at all; he laughed at her then picked her up and drove her into wall. She cried out in pain as she sunk to the floor, "Elliot, stop!" He didn't even bother responding, instead grabbed her by the jaw and forced her to stand.

She opened her mouth to say something, but Elliot punched her and split her lip. Her head flung to the side and she spat out blood and coughed a few times. "Why are you doing this?" She shouted.

"Why?! You want to know why?!" He grabbed her by her neck and forced her to walk backwards to the dining room. "You ruined everything in my life!"

"El.. I can't.. Please.. Stop." Olivia begged, gasping for breath. She tripped over her own feet and stumbled, which caused Elliot to tighten his grip on her throat.

"My wife left me because of you." He said squeezing harder. "My life is a mess and it is all your fault! You've been nothing but a pain in my ass."

She couldn't say anything. Black dots were beginning to dance in front of her eyes. She knew she was going to pass out. He threw her against the wall and she hit it with a loud grunt, she bounced off and hit the ground, hard. She began coughing horribly and gasping for air trying to regain her breath. When she spoke, her voice was hoarse, "I'm sorry, Elliot. I'm so sorry."

"Oh! Now you're sorry!" He yelled grabbing her once again by her hair and pulled her up so she was inches from his face. "She left me because of you!" He gripped her hair tighter. "I barely get to see my kids because of you! Everything is your fault!" He yelled, louder and louder with every word.

"Elliot, please…" she whimpered.

Just then, her phone began to ring. "Don't answer it." He growled.

"I have to," she said still trying to catch her breath, "It's Cragen."

Elliot released her hair. "Tell him everything is alright." He said coldly while glaring at her.

She limped over to her phone, "Benson."

"Olivia," Cragen spoke from the other side of the phone, "Is everything okay? Casey came to see me earlier and told me what happened. Are you hurt?"

"No, cap." She lied, silently crying. "We've moved past it."

"Liv.. If you're in trouble you need to let me know. I will help you." Cragen hoped she would talk to him. He could tell in her voice that something was wrong.

"Captain, really. Everything is fine." She lied again, hoping he would let it go.

"Olivia, do you want me to swing by? Just to check up?" He asked.

"That won't be necessary, Don. But thank you." She hated lying to him. He only wanted to help. If Elliot weren't standing next to her, she would have told Cragen everything.

"Okay, Liv. I'll see you back here tomorrow morning. Stay safe." Cragen hung up.

"Elliot, Cragen is going to notice something." Olivia was trying to convince him not to hurt her again.

He thought for a moment before he got up and got some subtle pain killers. He handed them to her and gave her a glass of water. "I'm sorry Liv."

"El…"

"Let me finish. You will wear a turtleneck tomorrow. You will cover the bruise on your face and you will pretend none of this happened, understood?" He said as he grabbed a beer.

"Y-yes, but Elliot, what if someone notices…?" She questioned.

"No one will, not if you don't mess up." He said coldly. "I'm going to watch TV. Do whatever you want." He got up and walked off. Olivia went and took a hot shower. When she got out she looked in the mirror at the handy work of her partner. She had bruises everywhere; her arms, her stomach, her neck and face. She cried silently until she fell asleep.

When Elliot woke her up in the morning, she flinched at his touch. He pretended not to notice as he poured some coffee. "Sleep well?" He asked, very casually. As if nothing happened last night.

"Yeah, I guess."

When they got to the precinct, everyone was staring at them as they walked in. Olivia tried to ignore everyone and Elliot spoke up saying, "Take a picture, why don't you?"

Before anyone could ask Olivia what happened, Cragen called from his office, "Liv, can I speak with you?" Elliot's eyes darted directly into hers and he slightly shook his head. That look was enough to make her want to vomit out of fear.

"What's with her, El?" Fin asked, once Olivia disappeared into Cragens office. "She seems quiet and jumpy."

"Yeah, she said she had a nightmare last night." He lied, "She's been that way all morning."

*In Cragens Office*

Olivia walked in and sat down then said, "Yeah, Cap?" hoping it was anything else besides Elliot. Her hoping didn't work.

"I want you to tell me what happened last night." He said carefully. She looked down at her hands and started picking at her nails. "I can see that busted lip and bruise on your face, and you're limping." When she didn't say anything, he continued, "Liv, I know you care about Elliot, but if he's hurting you…" he trailed off.

"I'm fine, Captain." She said standing up. She felt light headed. She stood up too fast.

"Are you okay?" Cragen asked, ready to catch her if she fainted. She grabbed a hold of the chair and counted to ten before opening her eyes. She saw Cragen looking at her, so worried. "You need to go to a hospital."

"No, really, I'm fine. I just missed breakfast this morning and-"She tried covering up, but he cut her off.

"Olivia, I will take you to the hospital myself if you won't cooperate."

"I don't need to go to a hospital." She said, sitting back down. She reached toward her neck to scratch a tag that was bothering her when Cragens eyes shot open and she realized what she had done.

"What the hell is on your neck!?" He said, standing up walking toward her. "Is that a bruise?"

"No, it's nothing." She lied, trying to stand up again.

"Sit down and show me your neck, Olivia." Cragen demanded, with worried eyes. She hesitated for a minute, and then came to the conclusion that Cragen was more stubborn than she was. She sighed and pulled down the collar on her turtle neck, revealing the horrible bruise Elliot had left on her when he choked her. "Oh, Liv." Cragen sighed and got closer to get a better look. "Did Elliot do this?" He asked after examining the bruise.

"He didn't mean to.. He was just drunk and the case is stressing him out." She lied. Elliot was completely sober when he had attacked her the night before.

"This was not an accident, Liv, and we both know it. You need to go to a hospital. That looks bad and God knows what else he did to you. Come on, let's go." He said, taking her hand.

When everyone heard Cragens door open, they all turned to stare. She gave Munch and Fin an "I'm okay" smile. She didn't dare look at Elliot.

"Munch, you're in charge until I get back." Cragen said while hurrying Olivia out.

"What the hell is going on?" Munch asked, but Cragen was already out the door with Olivia. Munch looked at Elliot, who only shrugged and went back to work.

Once they got to the hospital, Olivia started thinking about what would happen when she went home. He'd be so mad. She started to panic. She was hyperventilating and Cragen wrapped his arm around her to keep her from falling. "We need a doctor over here now!" He yelled. Olivia's legs gave out and she fainted.

When she woke up, Cragen was sitting next to her bed with swollen eyes. He'd been crying. "What happened?" She asked rubbing her head.

"You fainted. Olivia, you have bruises everywhere. The docs said based on the level of bruising, this has been going on for a while. Why didn't you come to me?" He spoke soft and slow.

"I don't know..." She began to tear up.

Her phone started ringing. It was Elliot.

"Hello? Liv?" Elliot said once she answered.

"El, now is not a good time." She started. He was the last person she wanted to talk to.

"What did you tell him?" He growled into the phone. "Liv, I swear, if you said anything..."

"Elliot, I can't talk, I have to go. Bye." She hung up on him, knowing she'd regret it later. She looked at Cragen. "When can I get out of here?"

"And where would you go?" He asked. "Not back to Elliot, that's a fact."

"Captain, he didn't mean it." She sniffled hard and pulled herself together. The nurse walked in and handed her release forms. She had no serious injuries and was okay to leave.

"Olivia, you can't-"

"Captain, I'm fine. I just want to get out of here." She started getting impatient, for no good reason.

"I am not letting you leave so you can go to his house and get yourself killed." He said, now frustrated with her. _This is Olivia_. He thought. _Why is she acting like this? _"I can't protect you if you don't let me."

"I don't need protection." She lied.

"Liv, you do."

After a long pause, she said, "He won't hurt me again. I'll talk to him." and before Cragen could say anything else, she was up, dressed and heading out the door.

She took a cab to Elliot's house and waited for him to come home. She thought of what would happen. Maybe she'd cook him dinner and that would help everything. She got up and started making mashed potatoes, beans and chicken. He arrived about ten minutes after everything was done, so it had enough time to cool. He barged in the door and shouted for her.

She walked around the corner. "I made dinner." She tried.

"What did you tell Cragen?" He demanded, not even glancing at the food.

"Nothing, Elliot." She tried so hard to keep herself steady.

"Why did he leave with you then? Huh? Where'd you go?" He asked standing too close to her.

"He took me to the hospital; he saw the bruise on my neck by accident…" She said quietly. She couldn't look him in the eyes.

"Why do you lie to me, Olivia?" He said, walking around her, taking some dinner for himself. "I can always tell when you lie."

"I'm not lying, El." She spoke, trying not to raise her voice. "I didn't tell him anything. He put together what happened from seeing my bruises…"

He stood up and walked over to her, "I don't think I like your tone." He glared at her hard before shoving past her to get a beer.

"El," She said with tears in her eyes, "This has to stop. The whole squad is noticing. You could lose your job, your kids…"

"Didn't I tell you not to talk about my kids?" He growled. "Maybe if you would just shut up and sit down, nobody would even notice you're there. You're nothing"

His words stung like a thousand bees. She started yelling at him. "Why do you keep doing this? Why can't you just leave me alone?! What did I ever do to you to make you start hurting me?! I don't deserve this!"

He stopped chewing. He looking at her with such rage in his eyes she immediately regretted everything she said. She wanted to apologize, but she just froze. She couldn't say anything.

She was cowering, trying not to face him, and then he slapped her, hard enough to make her scream. He only laughed and pinned her against the wall.

"Do you think that this is fun for me to sit here and have to deal with you all the time? Jesus Christ, ever since you started staying here, you've been nothing but a pain in the ass! All you do is bitch and cry." He yelled. He backed off and poured a glass of whiskey. He drank the whole thing in one chug. He poured another glass and offered some to Olivia. When she refused to drink it, he got mad. He shoved her against the counter, held her jaw open, poured it into her mouth and forced her to choke it down.

"Elliot…" She started to cry.

"There you go again with the tears! When are you going to learn that crying doesn't solve anything!?" He was getting so frustrated with her. He grabbed the bottle and shoved it into her mouth, forcing the liquid fire down her throat. He didn't stop until over half of the bottle was empty.

"Elliot, I don't want-"

He cut her off and screamed, "Do you think I give a damn what you want?!" He picked her up by an arm and threw her against the mirror. The glass broke everywhere and Olivia slipped to the floor, bleeding. "Get up! You're not hurt!" He yelled. He grabbed the back of her neck and rammed her head into the wall. She blacked out for a few seconds and when she came to; he was holding her by her neck against the wall; her feet barely touching the ground.

She wanted it to be over and she started fighting him. She tried to punch him, but she missed, then he shoved her to the ground and punched her hard. Her world was spinning and she could barely see straight. "Elliot! Get off me!" She spat. She clawed at his face and that was enough to get him to let go.

While he stumbled back, she got up and ran as fast as she could. She went out the door and just kept running. The alcohol had really taken its toll on her now. Everything was a blur. _Where was she going? What would happen after Elliot found her again?_ She ended up at Casey's house, it had to be near 3am and freezing outside.

"Casey!" She yelled through the door and she banged on it trying to wake her. "Casey! It's Olivia!" She suddenly felt nauseous. She leaned over the porch and hurled into the bushes. _Casey please wake up_. She felt herself going and couldn't stand anymore. She dropped to the ground and leaned against the porch beams. "I need help!" She saw a light turn on and heard footsteps. _Oh thank god. _

Casey opened the door and saw her laying there. She had bruises all over and she was covered in blood. "What the hell happened?! Did Elliot do this?" She brought Olivia inside and called 911, then Cragen. "Liv? What happened? What'd he do?" She asked softly. Olivia didn't respond to any of it, she barely heard it. Her mind was racing; she felt her chest begin to ache. "Olivia! Stay with me!" She heard Casey faintly and she passed out again.

Olivia woke up in the hospital, for the second time in less than 24 hours. She saw Casey and Cragen standing by her bed. The doctor walked in just then. "Hello Miss Benson. How are you feeling?"

"Sore." She said honestly. She didn't have the energy to lie any more.

"You received quite a beating, we had to put stiches in your head and arm and remove a lot of glass. Can you tell me what happened?" The doctor asked, nodding at Cragen.

Without looking up or changing her tone, she explained in detail what happened that night. From how she tried to talk to Elliot about how he was hurting her to her sprinting out after he slammed her against the mirror and put her head through the wall. She decided to leave out the part of him forcing her to drink alcohol. She glanced at Casey and Cragen who both had tears in their eyes.

"Thank you. Do you mind if I put this in your file? Confidential?" The doctor asked. Olivia nodded. At this point, she didn't care.

Cragen looked at Casey, "So when are you going to bring Elliot to court?"

Before Casey could answer, Olivia spoke up, "I'm not pressing charges." They both looked at her as if she had gone crazy. "He didn't mean it; he's just going through a rough time."

"That doesn't give him a free pass to use you as a punching bag, Olivia." Cragen said, putting his hand on hers.

"I'm okay. I can take care of myself." She said, trying to convince herself that it was true.

"So then you showing up at my door last night, you already had taken care of yourself and happened to stop by for a chat? I don't think so, Liv." Casey said, smirking to herself.

"She's right," Cragen said, "Liv, you can't go back to him."

"I have to be there when he has his kids. I need to protect them." Olivia argued.

The nurse walked in, same one as last time, and handed Olivia her release forms, she only had a slight concussion and Cragen has agreed to put her on desk duty for a while.

"Olivia, I'm not letting you leave here to go back to him. There has to be some way to change your mind." Casey said, now pleading with her. Olivia just looked at Casey with sad eyes and shoved past her without saying anything. Casey wanted to grab Olivia and make her stop, but she looked so fragile and breakable.

She showed up at Elliot's house. He wasn't home. He must have gone to work. A car pulled up in the driveway a little while after and fearing that it was Elliot, she didn't get up. When she heard a knock she remembered the kids were coming to stay. She ran up and opened the door. They all said hi and hugged her. That's when she noticed Kathy standing behind the kids.

"Go upstairs, guys. I need to talk to Olivia." Kathy said calmly. Once the kids were gone, Kathy spoke up again, "Olivia, Kathleen told me about what happened the other night. Judging by how you're looking right now, I'm guessing the same thing happened again?"

Olivia let out a sigh, "Yeah, but I'm going to talk to him tonight about it. Everything will get better soon."

"Olivia, I don't believe that any more than you do. You need to talk to someone and-"

"Kathy, I'll handle this."

"Then what about the kids? Hm? They shouldn't have to see this. The only reason I can't stop them from coming is the courts. He's dangerous, Olivia. You've seen for yourself now." Kathy got up and walked upstairs to say goodbye to her kids and came back down. "Olivia, for everyone's sake, you can't allow him to do this, especially in front of my kids." With that, Kathy shut the door and left. _No wonder they got divorced._

The kids all came back down the stairs and sat on the couch next to Olivia and watched cartoons. During a commercial, Lizzie asked, "What happened to you, Olivia?" She didn't realize she wasn't wearing any makeup, a sweatshirt or anything to hide her bruises and stitches. Before Olivia could say anything, Eli started crying. Maureen took Eli upstairs and asked Lizzie for help. Olivia went to go get a sweatshirt.

"Did Dad do all of that, Olivia?" Kathleen asked, with tears in her eyes.

Olivia pulled the sweatshirt over her bruised body and winced. She avoided the question by saying, "Don't worry honey. I'm fine."

"Like hell you are!" Dickie shouted standing up.

Olivia jumped and put her hands up protectively, then relaxed again.

"Dickie! Be careful." Kathleen said angrily.

"I'm sorry, Liv. I didn't mean to yell, but look at yourself. You're covered in bruises!"

"Guys, really, I'm okay. Your Dad is going to be home soon." Olivia said, apparently looking afraid.

"Why do you stay if he does this to you, Liv? Kathleen asked.

"Yeah," Dickie added, "Doesn't that hurt?" Kathleen punched him in the shoulder. "Ouch! What the heck?!"

"Of course it hurts Dickie! Now imagine that from Dad." Kathleen spat, glaring at her brother for being so insensitive.

Elliot pulled up in the driveway and Olivia drew in a deep breath. Kathleen looked at Olivia, then back at her father's car. "Go upstairs." Olivia told them, "He's had a rough day, I can handle it. Don't come down until I come up and tell you it's okay."

"Olivia," Kathleen said, "You can't just let him keep doing this! You can't-"

"Kathleen, get upstairs." Olivia snapped. She didn't mean to, but she didn't want either of them to be involved. They both looked shocked. Elliot was fumbling over the keys at the door. "Go!" They ran up the stairs and passed the warning onto the others. She sighed and pulled her sweatshirt off. Elliot had told her he doesn't like it when she wears it around him.

When Elliot finally got the door open, he stumbled in. He reeked like a bar. Olivia had never seen him this drunk before. She poured him a glass of water and handed it to him. "Is this a joke?" He slurred, launching the glass at Olivia. It barely missed her.

"Elliot, your kids are here. Don't do anything stupid." She warned.

"Did you just call me stupid?!" He yelled, straitening up to face her properly.

"No, I didn't. I just meant-"Before she could explain, he punched her and shoved her into the wall. She cried out with the collision. "Elliot, knock it off!" She yelled, trying to sound strong.

He ignored her and threw her against the already shattered mirror. She hit her whole body against it, getting more shards of glass stuck into her. "When will you ever learn, Olivia?" He whispered.

Olivia was fed up. She stood her ground, "What the hell is your problem lately? Does beating me up get you off?! You're just as bad as the perps we deal with!" She yelled in his face.

At first he didn't react. Then he punched her once more in the stomach and slapped her hard. She fell against the wall, clutching her stomach with one hand and holding her cheek with the other. He walked into the kitchen and poured himself some whiskey. When he came back, Olivia was still leaning against the wall to keep herself upright.

He threw her over his shoulder and began walking to the bedroom. "Put me down, Elliot!" Olivia screamed, punching and kicking with all the energy she had left. He stopped halfway down the hall and threw her down. She landed flat on her back. She grunted loudly as she hit the ground. The impact was hard enough to knock the wind out of her. She lay there, gasping for breath, while Elliot only laughed.

Just then, Olivia saw Kathleen appear in the hallway. "Olivia!" She started running over to where she lay on the ground, in pain, struggling to breathe. Elliot stopped her by grabbing her arm.

"She doesn't deserve your help, Kathleen. Go back upstairs."

"Dad! No! You're hurting her!" She yelled at him.

"Look at her, Kathleen!" He grabbed her chin and pointed her head to Olivia. "She's pathetic! She lets this happen. It's her fault. Now get back upstairs!"

When she didn't move, he squeezed her arm harder, "NOW!" He shoved his daughter back out of the hall way and heard her run upstairs. Olivia could still barely breathe, but was furious he talked like that in front of his daughter.

She tried to talk to him, "Elliot, please. Don't hurt your kids. They don't deserve to see you like this."

He grabbed her neck and pushed her further into the ground. "I decide what my kids deserve, not you." With that, he punched her in the face. She had laid still. She hoped he would think she's unconscious and leave her alone. It worked. He kicked her forcefully in the ribs and walked away.

When he came back, she hadn't moved, though she wasn't fooling him. "Get up, Olivia. Now. I know you're awake."

She tried to stand, but could only kneel against the wall. "Elliot, I can't." He walked up to her and grabbed her by the hair and harshly pulled her up.

"When I tell you to do something you do it!" He shoved her face first into the wall, punched her in the back, and then knocked her back to the ground. He kicked her again in the same spot as before and left.

She laid there for a few minutes before she heard the door slam and footsteps running down the stairs. Maureen was the first one to get to her. "I'm okay." Olivia groaned as she tried to sit up.

Maureen had her lay back down. "I know you're not. What happened, Liv? Do you need to go to the hospital?"

Kathleen came running in a second later. "Kathleen, I'm so sorry, about all of that." Olivia said, taking her hand.

"Don't be, Olivia, it's not your fault. What happened?" She asked, tears falling down her cheeks.

_It is my fault. Elliot is right. I keep letting him do this. I am pathetic._ "I'll be fine." She said, closing her eyes to prevent tears from falling.

Maureen turned toward her younger sister, "Go get a couple ice packs." She turned her attention back to Olivia. She was broken and bruised.

"You guys, really, I'll be okay." Olivia protested, still on the ground, but leaning against the wall. Her head throbbed and all of her muscles hurt. "Where are the others?"

"I told Dickie and Lizzie to watch Eli. They're upstairs with him." She said, still focused on Olivia's injuries. "Olivia, what did Kathleen see? She came back upstairs frantic."

"He knocked the wind out of me and she came in and he told her that I…" She took a deep breath. "That I was… pathetic because I let him keep doing this and that I didn't deserve her help. Then he made her go back upstairs." She said, turning away from Maureen, crying and ashamed.

"Liv, it's not your fault." She said softly.

Just then Kathleen came back with 2 ice packs. She gave one to Olivia who put it strait on her forehead and gave the other to Maureen. "Where does it hurt most, Liv?" Olivia just grabbed her hand with the icepack and put it on her ribs where Elliot kicked her. Kathleen went to get one more and held it to Olivia's jaw.

After a few silent minutes, Olivia tried getting up and whimpered from the pain. The girls helped her to her feet and walked her towards the couch. "Olivia, I really think we should get you to a hospital." Kathleen said slowly, "Or at least call someone to come by and check on you." They laid Olivia down gently on the couch.

"I have that Doctors number on the fridge, Dr. Warner, I think?" Maureen said getting up.

Olivia shot up to try and stop Maureen, "Guys really, she doesn't need to come over. I'm fine."

"Olivia, either she comes over or we take you in, your choice." Maureen said with the phone and Dr. Warner's number in hand.

"You sound like my boss." Olivia said, trying to laugh. "Let me call." The phone rang twice before Melinda answered.

"Dr. Warner."

"It's Olivia."

"Liv? What's up?" She asked, confused that she wasn't calling from her normal phone.

"Melinda, could you stop by Elliots for a minute? I'll explain when you get here." Olivia said, trying not to sound like she needed help.

"Sure thing. I'll be there in a half hour." She hung up the phone.

While they were waiting for Melinda to arrive, they continued icing Olivia's injuries. A car pulled up and Olivia tensed, fearing it might be Elliot, then remembered that Melinda was coming. She walked inside and called for Olivia. "In here!" Kathleen called back.

As Melinda walked into the living room, she saw Olivia, bruised and bloody lying on the couch. "Oh my god, Olivia, what the hell happened to you?!" She instantly ran over and started examining her.

"Elliot and I got into an argument and-" Olivia started when Kathleen cut her off, knowing she was going to under exaggerate the situation.

"Dad did this to her, all of it. It's been going on for weeks, but I've never seen her this bad." She said, sad eyes looking toward Olivia.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Melinda asked, almost too quiet to hear, still looking at the bruises all over. She had always been like a mother to Olivia.

"Mel, it's not a big deal, I just set him off. It's my fault." Olivia tried sitting up.

"No, no, no. You're lying down," Melinda said, putting her hands on her shoulders, "and since when do you blame the victim?"

_Victim_. Olivia thought. _I am a cop and now I'm a victim?_ Everything Elliot had yelled at her in his rage kept repeating in her mind. _"You're nothing! You let me do this. You're pathetic."_

She let one tear slide down her bruised cheek. Melinda wiped it away and it brought Olivia out of her thoughts. Melinda noticed the glass from the mirror that was stuck in her arm. "Will you get me a pair of tweezers, honey?" She asked Kathleen. When she left, Melinda looked back at Olivia's bruises. She sighed and said, "Where does it hurt the most?"

Olivia motioned to her ribs, "He kicked me, twice." She sounded too defeated to argue.

When Melinda pulled her shirt up, her eyes widened with shock and Maureen gasped, finally letting her tears flow. There were bruises all over her stomach, ribs and hips, new and old. "Olivia. You barely have an inch of unbruised skin. Does anyone else know about this?"

"Cragen and Casey both know." She said with her eyes closed, not wanting to face Melinda. She put her hands over the bruise and pressed down slightly. Olivia gasped as pain spread through her whole body, making Melinda jump. "I'm sorry." Olivia breathed out.

"Don't be." She said moving her hands along the rest of her abdomen for other areas that may be broken, although she found nothing. She heard Kathleen coming back down the stairs and pulled Olivia's shirt back down over her stomach. Kathleen handed her the tweezers and she got to work removing all the pieces of glass from Olivia's body. It took 25 minutes to get it all out.

"Well, you don't have any injuries that would require you to go to the hospital, but I'm not letting you stay here, and I'm recommending to Cragen that you take a few days. I'll call him in the morning." Melinda told her. Olivia opened her mouth to protest, but Melinda kept talking. "I'm going to have you stay with Casey. I'll have her come pick you up when she get off tonight."

Before Olivia could say anything, Melinda left the room and was on the phone with Casey, arranging plans for Olivia. When she came back in she looked at Maureen and Kathleen, "She will be here in about two hours. Can you girls keep an eye on her for me until she gets here?" They both nodded and resumed icing Olivia's injuries.

"Melinda, you really don't-" Olivia started.

"Olivia. This is for your own protection." Melinda stated firmly. "If you don't want to keep yourself safe, fine, but I care about you, so do Casey and Don. I'm not going to sit around and watch you take his beatings." She softened her tone slightly before continuing, "I'll come check on you in a few days after you've been with Casey for a while, just to make sure." Olivia nodded, too shocked at Melinda's behavior to say anything. With that, Melinda left.

Olivia closed her eyes and sighed and rested her head on the arm of the couch as the girls just looked at her. Kathleen was the first one to speak up, "Olivia, why won't you let anyone help you?"

She opened her eyes and looked at Kathleen very confused. "You girls are helping me, and Melinda and Casey both are." Olivia said, defending herself.

"Yeah, only after Dad nearly killed you. Why keep coming back if you know he's going to hurt you again?" Maureen asked.

Olivia just shook her head. She really didn't know why she allowed him to do this to her. She just put the icepack back to her forehead and sighed, "I don't know."

She must have fallen asleep because she woke up and it was starting to get dark outside. She moved to fast when she tried to sit up and was stopped when pain went shooting through her body. She looked around and saw Kathleen sleeping in the chair next to her.

Then she saw Maureen come in from the kitchen with a cup. "Here, Liv. It's tea." Olivia nodded her thanks and took a sip before she set it down. "Casey will be here soon. She just left the office. We already got most of your stuff ready for you." She said quietly, sad that Olivia had to leave, but it was for the better.

"I'm sorry…" Olivia whispered, without looking up. "I'm sorry I won't be here to protect you guys anymore."

"Olivia, you're the one that needs protecting." Maureen said, sitting next to her. "Dad has never hit us before. I know you love us, but you need to be safe."

"Then what's going to happen when he comes home and I'm not here to for him to throw around. He's going to-" The sound of a car pulling up to the house cut her off and she tensed, fearing it was Elliot. Kathleen started waking up just then.

Maureen got up and looked out the window. "It's okay, Liv. It's Casey."

Casey walked in and when she saw Olivia, she broke down. "Liv. I am so sorry. I should have never left you alone with him."

"It's not your fault Casey." Olivia said, trying to smile.

"Olivia, Dad just called and said he'd be home in a half hour. You need to go." Maureen said, walking back into the room.

Casey tossed her keys to her. "I'll help Olivia, if you girls could grab her things that would be a big help." They did as they were told and moved Olivia's bags into Casey's car.

Casey directed her attention back to Olivia, who was trying to sit up on her own. Casey walked over to her and put her arm around her waist to help her up. Olivia groaned loudly at the pain and Casey loosened her grip. "No, Casey it's not you, it's just... Everything hurts." Olivia said, trying to keep her balance. Casey pulled Olivia's arm and wrapped it over her shoulder. Olivia was leaning on her heavily.

"Here, let me help you." Kathleen said as she walked back inside. She took Olivia's other arm and put it around her shoulders so most of her weight was on them. When they finally got her to the car, Casey thanked the girls for their help and drove off.

"Liv, what happened tonight? You look like hell." Casey said, after a few silent minutes. "And don't tell me it's not a big deal because Melinda called me, and she wouldn't have known unless it was bad."

Olivia thought about whether to tell her what actually happened or not. She decided enough was enough. "He got home and was really drunk, more than usual. He started yelling at me, he punched me, and then he pushed me against the wall. He slapped me around a little more before he shoved me into the mirror, again. Then he went away and I thought it was over." She paused to take a breath and calm down a little. "He came back and picked me up. I don't know where he was planning on going, but I was fighting to get him to put me down and he flung me to the floor in the hallway and I couldn't breathe."

Casey glanced at Olivia, who had tears streaming down her face, though her voice was steady.

"Kathleen came downstairs and saw what was happening, but Elliot pushed her back upstairs." She was shaking now. "He, um, choked me, again and then hit me. He stood up, kicked me and walked out. When he came back he made me try to get up, and when I couldn't he pulled me up and punched my back, then dropped me again. He said I was pathetic and he kicked me in the same spot before he left." She let out a small sob before sniffling hard. "Then the girls came down and helped me and then I called Melinda."

"You called her?" Casey asked, slightly shocked.

"Well, they were going to, but I told them I would." Olivia explained.

By the time Olivia was finished telling what happened, they had arrived at Casey's house. Olivia opened her door and stepped out, only to fall back against the car and slide to the ground. She didn't realize just how weak she had become in the past few days. Casey ran over and helped her inside. "Why don't you go take a bath and I'll get your bags inside?" Casey suggested.

"Okay." Olivia said reluctantly. She knew she wouldn't be much help dragging her stuff inside. Casey helped her to the bathroom and started the water, while she leaned against the door, trying to undress. "Casey, will you help me?" A very irritated Olivia asked. She hated being dependent on other people.

Casey nodded and walked over to help steady Olivia. As she removed her shirt, Olivia flinched when she heard Casey gasp at the sight of her bruised torso. She had small cuts from being slammed against the mirror and large, dark bruises, fresh and old. She also noticed how thin she had gotten. Even her legs had small gashes and bruises from hitting glass. She helped lower Olivia into the bath and left to go bring her stuff inside.

When she was finished, she decided to check on Olivia. "Liv? You doing okay?"

"Yeah, just fine." Olivia called back.

With that, Casey walked out and decided to order some pizza for them. About ten minutes later she heard a crash come from the bathroom. She sprinted down the hall and burst through the door. "What happened?"

Olivia was lying next to the tub, half dressed. "I needed to try and do this for myself." She said and she tried getting up once more. Casey smiled at her stubbornness, knowing that the old Olivia was still in there somewhere.

"Olivia, you can't even stand on your own right now. It's not your fault, but it's going to take time." Casey said, helping her to stand up and walk into the guest room. She had Olivia sit on the bed and pull out what she wanted to wear, while Casey helped her re-dress.

"Dammit." Olivia cursed to herself, as she tripped and almost fell trying to get her pants up. "Why am I so weak?!" She yelled, to nobody in particular.

However, that didn't stop Casey from answering. "Because Elliot beat the hell out of you. He probably did a lot of internal damage, Liv." She paused for a moment before asking, "When was the last time you ate something?"

Olivia really had to think about that. Since Elliot began hitting her, she had lost her appetite. "I don't know. A few days ago maybe."

"Well that could also explain why you're feeling weak. You need to start eating and drinking more, Liv." Casey said.

"I guess so." She just shrugged and leaned on Casey as they walked out to the living room.

"I ordered some pizza, so it should be here soon." Casey said, pouring some water for Olivia.

"Thanks." They sat on the couch and started a movie when the pizza showed up. Olivia jumped at the sound of banging on the door.

"It's just the pizza, Liv. It's okay." Casey got up and answered the door, took the pizza and left him a nice tip. "How many pieces do you want?" She called to Olivia from the kitchen.

"Just one, for now." Olivia called back. Casey walked back in and handed her the slice of pizza.

By the time Casey had finished three pieces, Olivia was barely half way done with her first. "Liv, you have to eat something." Casey said, noticing how little Olivia had eaten.

Olivia opened her mouth to answer, but felt something else come up. She shut her mouth and put her hand over it to keep her from vomiting. Casey quickly helped her up and brought her to the sink in the kitchen, being that it was closer than the toilet. Olivia puked up a mix of water, tea and pizza.

Between retches, Casey had grabbed a bucket from under the sink and helped Olivia to the bathroom, where she didn't have to stand. Olivia crouched over the toilet, heaving, while Casey sat next to her and rubbed small circles on her back. "It's going to be okay, Liv. Just breathe."

After about five more minutes of nothing else coming up, Olivia laid down on the floor, using Casey's lap as a pillow. Casey stroked her hair, "Olivia, I think something is really wrong. There is no way that little bit of pizza could have done this." Olivia only made a small noise, but Casey knew she was protesting. "Liv, we should at least call Warner to come check on you."

Very quietly and in a pained tone, Olivia replied, "I've bugged her enough for one day. I'm fine, I just-" Her stomach contracted, she shot up and was once again throwing up.

Casey gently leaned against her back, "I'm going to call her, okay?" With her head still in the toilet, Olivia nodded, too fatigued to argue. Casey called and explained what was going on. About ten minutes later, Melinda was at the door. "Thanks for coming so late." Casey said.

"No problem. Is she still in the bathroom?" Melinda asked. Casey nodded as they both walked back to where Olivia was.

"Liv? Melinda's here." Casey said, sitting back down to where Liv was resting her head in her hands.

"Hi, Mel." Olivia said, trying not to sound as bad as she felt.

"Oh, Liv." Melinda said, walking over to where she was, "How long has this been going on?"

"Feels like hours." She said, heaving once more, only to have nothing come up.

"It's been about 20 minutes." Casey explained softly.

Melinda happened to glance in the toilet and noticed that there was blood mixed in with her vomit. "Olivia, we need to get you to the hospital. You're throwing up blood."

Olivia tried getting up on her own, shaking badly. Casey, who is stronger than she looks, scooped up a very light Olivia in her arms and walked out to her car. Casey drove while Melinda stayed in the back seat with Olivia.

Once they arrived, Melinda asked Casey to help Olivia so that she could run in and alert someone of what was going on, and she ran inside.

Casey pulled Olivia into her arms and started walking toward the doors. She felt Olivia tense up and she knew she was going to puke. She set Olivia's feet on the ground, but held her up and she vomited once again. The content of her vomit was mostly blood. Casey felt panic rising inside her and she tried to get Olivia into the hospital faster. Olivia started swaying back and forth.

Casey could feel her going limp in her arms, and then she dropped. She was unconscious. "I need help!" Casey shouted as loud as she could. Melinda came running out with two other doctors and a couple nurses pushing a gurney. The doctors lifted her up and gave her oxygen. Casey pulled out her phone and called Cragen.

"Casey? You do know it's 2am, right?" He said, irritated with being woken up.

"Don, it's Liv. We're at Mercy hospital. She's unconscious." Casey said, crying.

"Okay, I'm on my way." Cragen replied before hanging up the phone.

Casey hadn't stopped crying since Olivia went unconscious. She didn't know what was wrong. Melinda tried to calm her down, but nothing worked. Casey kept pacing around the waiting room until she saw Cragen run in with Fin and Munch by his side.

"Casey, what happened?" Munch asked, more worried than she'd ever seen him.

"Olivia started throwing up so I called Melinda over for help, but then she was throwing up blood so we came here and she collapsed and I don't know what's going on." Casey said quickly.

"Wait, so she was with you?" Fin questioned. When Casey nodded, he proceeded to ask, "I thought she was staying at Elliots?"

Casey, Cragen and Melinda all looked at each other and figured the other detectives would find out anyway.

Cragen spoke up, "Elliot has been abusing Olivia. It's been going on for a while. We all just found out recently. She couldn't stay there any longer after he damn near killed her, so Casey had her stay with her."

Fin was shaking with anger. "Where is the son-of-a-bitch? I want to teach him a lesson."

Munch put a hand on his shoulder, "That isn't going to help Olivia right now."

"Neither is us standing here doing nothing!" Fin snapped at his partner before storming off. The captain followed him.

"I will deal with Elliot, Fin." Cragen said sternly.

"Fine, but if anything happens to her…" Fin mumbled.

"I'm looking for the family of Olivia Benson?" The nurse called. They all ran up to her and asked what was going on. "You're all family?" They nodded.

Casey stepped forward and said, "She lives with me. What happened?"

"When I looked in her file, I saw that she had been recently attacked, so I looked at the bruises on her abdomen. Whoever attacked her caused internal damage to her stomach, so it will be very sensitive to anything for a while. She also is very dehydrated and slightly malnourished. She'll be fine once she starts eating and drinking regularly. The pizza she ate gave her food poisoning, which caused her to begin puking. Her stomach will repair itself over time, but I'd like to keep her overnight, just to be sure."

"Why was she throwing up blood?" Casey asked.

"Due to the fact that most of her vomit was most likely stomach acid, it caused a small tear in her esophagus. It will heal on its own."

"Can we see her?" Fin asked.

"One at a time. She needs her rest." The nurse said. They all told Casey she should go in first. "Right this way." The nurse led her to Olivia's room.

Casey walked in and tried not to cry at the sight of her best friend hooked up to monitors. "Liv? You awake?"

Olivia opened her eyes and smiled when she saw Casey. Her smile quickly faded when she realized where she was. "What happened?" She asked, putting a hand to her stomach.

"Food poisoning and your stomach is sensitive, due to Elliot. Then you were puking up blood, so we brought you here. You collapsed in the parking lot." Casey explained slowly.

"We?"

"Melinda came over when you first started throwing up. She's in the waiting room with Cragen, Munch and Fin."

"Do they all know…?" Olivia asked, not looking up.

"They were going to find out eventually, Liv." Casey said.

Olivia felt like a huge hole had just been punched through her chest. _My whole squad knows what he did. _"So what's going to happen now?"

"The doctors want to keep you here overnight, just to make sure everything is okay. They also said you're dehydrated and malnourished. You need to make a conscious effort to eat and drink enough, okay?" Casey said, taking Olivia's hand.

"Mhmm" Olivia mumbled.

"Liv, nobody thinks any less of you. This is not your fault." Casey said, reading Olivia's mind.

"I see battered women all the time in my job and I was stupid enough to let it happen to me."

"Olivia. He hit you. He was the one hurting you. You care about him; you didn't want him to lose his job. I under-" Casey tried to calm her down.

"No!" Olivia interrupted, letting go of Casey's hand. "You don't understand! Just… get out! I want to be alone." Olivia snapped, closing her eyes to prevent tears from falling.

"Liv..." Casey said quietly, obviously hurt by her words. When she didn't say anything back, Casey sighed. "I want to help you, Olivia." Then she left to join the rest of the group out in the waiting room.

"How is she?" Cragen asked.

"She's blaming herself. I tried to calm her down, but she kicked me out and said she wanted to be alone." Casey shuffled to the chairs and broke down crying. "I knew what was going on. I was there! Why didn't I stop him? What's wrong with me?" She didn't realize the entire group was standing next to her.

"Casey, what do you mean you were there?" Fin said, sitting down next to her.

She drew in a deep breath, "Remember when Olivia fell into the mirror?" Fin nodded slowly, beginning to realize what actually happened. "It was him. He threw her into the mirror. I brought her to his house so she could get her clothes and come stay with me. I didn't think he would be there. He started yelling at her, so I stepped in between them and he…" She trailed off.

"What'd he do, Casey?" Munch asked.

"H-He punched me, then went to yell at Olivia some more. He hit her a couple times. I was right there! Why didn't I stop him?!" Casey was now sobbing into Fin's shoulder.

Fin was enraged. Not only was he abusing Olivia, he had punched Casey as well. _The next time I see him…_ He thought to himself.

"Casey, nobody is blaming you for any of this. It's not your fault and it's not Olivia's fault either. I'll go talk to her." Cragen said, patting Casey on her shoulder.

Cragen stood outside of Olivia's room for a second, he took a breath and exhaled then went in. "Liv?"

"I don't want to talk about this." Olivia had her eyes closed and was facing away from the door.

"I know you don't, but Olivia, there are other people out there who want to help you. They're worried sick." Cragen said, taking a seat in the chair so she was facing him.

She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. "Great, so now everyone knows that I'm pathetic and let this whole thing happen. This is all my fault. If I wasn't so stupid-"

Cragen cut her off right there, "Olivia this isn't your fault and nobody thinks that. Casey thinks it's her fault."

"Casey didn't hit me. It's not her fault." Olivia said, fighting tears.

"It's not yours either, Liv."

Olivia let her tears fall. Here she was, in the hospital for the 3rd time in the past few days, because of Elliot; her partner, her best friend.

"It's going to be okay, Liv. You're safe here. You need to get some rest then we will talk more about what we're going to do, okay?" Cragen said softly. Olivia sniffled hard and nodded.

Cragen was walking back to the waiting room when he heard Fin yelling.

"You son of a bitch!" Fin exclaimed. "What the hell are you doing here?"

When Cragen walked up he saw that Elliot had arrived. Before Cragen could stop him, Fin swung and hit Elliot.

"Fin. Back off. I'll take care of this." Cragen said. Fin reluctantly walked off.

"Elliot, go home." Cragen said, furious.

"What the hell did he just punch me for?" Elliot asked, glaring after Fin.

"You know why, Elliot." Cragen spat, fuming. "Why are you here?"

"I heard Liv was here, is she okay?" Elliot said, seemingly sincere.

"After your beatings, no she's not okay, but she will be. Now get out of here before I call security." Cragen said, stepping forward.

"I want to check on her." Elliot said stubbornly.

"Are you out of your mind, Elliot?" Cragen was starting to get really mad. "You attacked Olivia, more than once and now you want to check on her well-being? Get out of here, and don't come back."

Elliot didn't say anything; he turned around and walked out. Cragen watched him, glaring the whole time. When he walked back to the waiting room, Fin rushed up and said, "What the hell did he want, Cap?"

"To check on Liv's well-being. I told him to get lost." He said. "She's going to be safe here tonight, why don't you all get some rest and come back tomorrow?"

"I'll stay Don, just to make sure." Casey said, walking towards Olivia's room.

He nodded and followed everyone else out.

Casey was walking towards Olivia's room when she heard her scream. She started running down the hall. "I need a doctor! Now!" She kept running and burst into Olivia's room to see her on the floor. "Olivia, what the hell happened?"

"I was having a nightmare… about Elliot… and I guess I fell off the bed." She said, shakily.

Just then the doctor came running in. "What's going on?"

"Nothing. I'm fine." Olivia insisted, letting Casey help her back up. "I just fell."

The doctor checked her over; just to be sure the fall didn't injure her, and then walked out again.

"Casey, was Elliot here?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah, but Cragen kicked him out after Fin decked him." Casey said, taking a seat on the cushioned chair. "Why?"

"He called me. He told me if I pressed charges, that we'd regret it." She said quietly.

"We?" Casey asked. Olivia nodded.

"He knows I'm staying with you, Case."

"He's just trying to scare you, Liv. Try not to worry about it. You need some sleep." Casey said, trying to change the subject.

"I guess so." Olivia closed her eyes and fell asleep rather quickly.

Casey watched her for a bit before falling asleep herself.

When Olivia woke up, the sun was shining through the window, but Casey was gone. _She must have gone home._ She laid there for a few moments, just thinking when she heard Fin talking. "You getting good rest, Liv?"

She opened her eyes to see him standing in the doorway. She smiled at him and sarcastically said, "The best I've ever gotten."

"Casey called me this morning and asked if I could come by to check on you." He said, sitting down.

"Come on, Fin, I don't need a baby-sitter." She whined, smiling.

"You're right, but you get one anyway. I took the day off so I can take you back to Casey's once they let you out."

"Thanks Fin."

A few moments later the doctor walked in with her release form. "Now Miss Benson, I don't want to see you back here any time soon." He smiled and handed her the form.

Fin and Olivia shuffled their way out of the hospital and to his car. He dropped her off with Casey and wished her well, then drove off.

"So, Liv. What sounds good to eat? I'm about to start dinner." Casey asked, helping her inside. Olivia's phone started ringing, she saw that it was Elliot and ignored it. "Won't he ever figure it out?" Casey said, half to herself.

"I guess not." Olivia shrugged it off and sat on the couch. Her phone rang again, Elliot, again. She ignored it and put her phone down.

Her phone rang once more, this time, it was Maureen calling. Olivia felt chills go down her spine. This couldn't be good.

"Maureen? Is everything okay?" Olivia asked quickly.

"Uh, no not really. I-I need you to come home. Dad's upset." She said, whispering into the phone.

Olivia waved her hand at Casey trying to get her to help her up. "What's going on?"

"H-he got home and was really, really drunk and I-I didn't know what to say because he was rambling on about you, but Kathleen, sh-she just started yelling at him and he slapped her and-"

"Where is everybody right now?" Olivia interrupted.

"I'm with everyone but Kathleen in Eli's room. Everything got quiet and I don't know where she is. The kids don't want me to leave them to find her. Olivia please. He keeps yelling for you." Maureen sounded so scared, and she wasn't often afraid.

"I'll be there as soon as I can." Olivia hung up the phone and looked at Casey. "I need you to bring me to Elliots, now."

"Olivia, that's not-" Casey started.

"Dammit, Casey, he's beating on his kids! I need to get there now!" She stood up slowly. She had regained some strength, but not much.

"You're not going in there alone. Let's go." Casey said, hurrying to the car. She drove as fast as she legally could to Elliots. Olivia jumped out as well as Casey and ran to the door. She flung it open, called for Kathleen and limped quickly down the hall while Casey went upstairs to check on the kids.

She went into Eli's room and saw them huddled together next to the crib. "Oh thank god you're safe."

Maureen stood and motioned for Casey to follow her. They walked into the hallway when Maureen turned and said, "Casey, I think he has his gun." The blood drained from Casey's face. She gave Maureen her keys.

"This is what we're going to do. I'm going to go downstairs and distract Elliot with Olivia; you take every body and get out. Call the police and drive to the nearest police station. Do not stop and don't come back, okay?" Maureen nodded with eyes full of fear. "Wait about five minutes before coming down the stairs to leave, okay?" Maureen nodded again and went back into the room to tell the kids what was going to happen. Casey went back downstairs and heard Elliot talking angrily from the bedroom.

"You think you can walk out on me like that, then come back and expect everything to be okay, Liv? You stupid bitch." He hit Olivia with the back of his hand and knocked her down. He had his back to the doorway so he couldn't see Casey. Even though she couldn't see his face, she knew he was way past drunk. He could barely keep his balance and his words were slurring badly.

She looked around the room and saw Kathleen lying on the floor crying. Olivia and Casey made eye contact. Elliot must have seen Olivia look past him, because he whipped around and saw Casey. He grabbed Kathleen, pulled out his gun and shoved it to his daughters head and she screamed.

"Get out or I shoot her!" He yelled at Casey.

"Elliot, you don't need to do this!" Olivia yelled.

Kathleen was sobbing. "Don't let him shoot me!"

Elliot thought for a second before he shoved Kathleen towards Casey and held the gun on Olivia.

"Get them out." Elliot growled at Olivia, motioning towards Kathleen and Casey. Olivia nodded that it would be okay, and Casey took Kathleen to the living room. "Go upstairs and tell Maureen that it's safe for you guys to leave. She knows what to do. Just listen to her."

"What about Olivia? We can't just leave her!" Kathleen said, pulling herself together.

They heard a huge thud and Olivia screaming, "Elliot, stop! Please, Elliot." Olivia screamed again, and then there was another crash.

"You need to get out of here, now. Everything will turn out okay." Casey tried to reassure her, but they both knew this was bad. Kathleen ran up the stairs and came back down a few minutes later with the rest of the kids. Casey sighed with relief, "Okay, now go and call 911."

Once they were gone, Casey ran back to the bedroom, but didn't go in yet. "Olivia?" She called. "Is everything okay?"

"Casey, don't come in. Elliot wants you to leave." She called back.

Casey couldn't find any words to say. She just listened to what Olivia was saying to Elliot. 'El, please put the gun down, we can talk about this, okay? Elliot, please?"

Casey couldn't stand out in the hall doing nothing. She turned the corner into the bedroom. Elliot saw her and lunged for Olivia and gripped her hair with one hand and pointed his gun at her with the other. "Elliot, why are you doing this?" Casey said, with her hands out, she took one step forward.

"One more move Casey, and I shoot." He pushed the gun harder onto Olivia's head.

Olivia spoke up. "Elliot, please put the gun down. You don't need it. I'll do whatever you want…" She was trying not to cry. Elliot was the only one armed in the whole house, and they all knew it.

"Get out, Casey."

"You know I can't do that, Elliot." Casey growled back at him. "Why not just put the gun away? Neither of us are armed."

"Casey, please." Olivia whispered, barely audible.

"You're right, I don't need the gun." He smirked. While still gripping Olivia's hair, he tucked the gun into his waistband. "I have this instead." He whipped out a large pocket knife and held it across Olivia's neck. Olivia tried inching backward from the knife, but Elliot only pushed it closer to her.

"Elliot, stop, what do you want?" Casey said, moving forward again.

"I told you not to move." He pushed the knife harder on Olivia, who let out a small whimper, which made Casey stop in her tracks. "I want you to get out. Now."

"I can't, Elliot." Casey said, looking down at Olivia. She was tense and shaking with fear.

"Yes you can. Leave. Now." He pushed down harder and drew blood. Olivia let out a gasp. Casey took a step back, but didn't leave.

"I will leave, but only if I take the knife and gun." Casey tried to reason with him, but to no avail. He pulled the knife a little ways across Olivia's neck and made her cry out. "Okay. Okay, Elliot. I'll leave the room."

"You will leave the house and not come back in." He dragged Olivia to the bathroom and locked her in, then pulled out his gun and pointed it at Casey. "Now get out." When Casey didn't move, he walked over to her, grabbed her arm and forced her to walk towards the door. He pulled the gun up and pointed it in her face. "Don't come back."

"Elliot, I won't leave Olivia." Casey said, pleading with him. He opened the door and hit her with the gun. In the few seconds she was dazed, he shoved her out, slamming and locking the door before she had the chance to try to open it again.

When Elliot walked back into the bedroom, Olivia had gotten the door open and was trying to leave. "Going somewhere?" He hit her with the gun, as well. She fell and knocked over the nightstand.

"Elliot, what do you want from me?" Olivia begged, trying to scoot away from him.

Before he could answer, they heard sirens. At first, Olivia thought it was a good thing, but once Elliot heard them, he became enraged. "You called the cops on me?!" He yelled and started kicking her all over; legs, face, stomach, it didn't matter.

"No! I didn't, Elliot!" She tried kicking back to get him to stop. He finally stopped and just looked down at her for a moment.

"Get up, Olivia, and don't give me that bullshit that you can't." He demanded.

She drew in a deep breath and somehow got to her feet, although she was holding onto the bed. "Elliot, please. I didn't call anyone. I've been with you the whole time."

"You probably called when you were with Casey coming over!" He punched her cheek hard and grabbed her arm to keep her from falling. "You need to be stronger, Liv. You can't just fall to the ground and expect me to feel sorry for you."

Olivia was getting frustrated with him. "Maybe I'd be stronger if you'd stop hitting me." She spat, trying to prepare herself for whatever was coming.

"You need to watch that mouth of yours!" He yelled, slapping her.

She gathered up all her strength and punched him as hard as she could. He stumbled back slightly out of surprise, but the impact didn't seem to faze him. He grabbed her and rammed her into the wall. "Never hit me again, bitch! Understand?!" He shook her as he yelled.

"Let go of me, Elliot!" She screamed angrily. He pushed off of her and started walking around the room. "Why can't you just leave me alone?" She said, in an almost whispered voice.

However, he heard her; he picked up the vase on the dresser and chucked it at her. She tried to dodge it, but it hit her back and shattered. More sirens were going off, which only aggravated Elliot more, he ran up to Olivia and pushed her against the wall, digging the glass further into her back. She let out a high-pitched scream and he silenced her with a fist to the stomach.

Just then, they heard the front door be kicked in. "Olivia! Where are you?!" It was Fin calling for her. Olivia lunged for the door, but Eliot grabbed her arms and put handcuffs too tight on her.

"Fin! I'm-" She tried yelling out, but Elliot slapped his hand over her mouth, pulled the gun out again then said, "Let's hope everyone corporates here, it'd be unfortunate if someone's gun went off, by accident." He pushed the gun to her head so she could feel his threat. "You're going to tell Fin to get everyone else out."

Olivia nodded and Elliot moved his hand from her mouth and lowered it to be gently resting on her neck. "Fin?" She called again.

"Liv? Where are you?" He yelled back, his voice laced with worry and anger.

"The bedroom. Don't come in. Elliot wants everyone to leave." She said, following Elliots orders.

"You know I can't leave now, Liv." He said. After a short pause he asked, "Are you hurt?"

Before Olivia could answer, Elliot covered her mouth again and yelled, "She's fine."

"Elliot, man, what are you doing? If she's not hurt, we can all walk out of here." Fin tried to calm him down.

"It's a little too late now, don't you think, Liv?" He pushed the gun hard into the back of her neck, causing her to whimper into his hand. He leaned closer to her and whispered, "Don't move and don't say anything." She nodded and he let go. She wanted to yell for Fin to come in, but controlled herself. She didn't want anyone else getting hurt.

Elliot turned around, holding a piece of duct tape; Olivia's heart sank. She tried moving away from him, but he grabbed her hair and held her still as he covered her mouth, then slapped her. She let out a muffled scream. "Olivia?" Fin called again. "What's going on?"

She tried yelling through the tape, but only to have Elliot hit her again. "Didn't I tell you to shut up?"

"Elliot, knock it off. How can we make the situation better?" Fin tried negotiating again, but it only upset him more.

"We can't." He punched her twice and she tried screaming again. "That's it, Liv. You just don't shut up, do you?" He linked his arm through hers, pulling her to the bathroom. Once the door was shut and flew into a crazed-frenzy and attacked her; punching her face, her stomach, hitting her with the gun and kicking her. She had tried not to yell at first, but now she didn't care, she wanted Fin to run in and help her. Olivia screamed as loud as she could, through the tape, hoping Fin would hear her. Elliot hit her forehead with the gun; she heard a crack and everything turned fuzzy.

"Liv?!" Fin yelled. "We're coming in!" Then the bedroom door was busted in.

Elliot shouted, "You come in here, I swear to God I'll shoot her."

"I need to know she's okay Elliot. Can she say something?" Fin suggested.

"Come on, Liv. They want to hear you beg for your life." Elliot whispered to her, ripping the duct tape from her face. He pushed her away from him towards the wall with the door and she sunk to the floor. He pointed the gun at her again. "Say something."

"Please don't shoot me." Olivia whimpered. The handcuffs were digging into her wrists. Fin's heart sank when he heard how broken she sounded. "I'll do anything you want, El. Please."

"Elliot, you need to let her go." Fin tried to keep talking to him, but it seems every time Fin said anything, it angered Elliot more. He took out the pocket knife and grabbed her again. "Fin?" Olivia said, terrified.

"I'm right here, Liv."

"Fin, he has a knife and-" Elliot wrapped one hand around her mouth and with the other he held the knife to her neck.

"How many times have I told you to stay quiet, Liv?" He asked, pushing he knife harder on her skin.

"You already have a gun Elliot, Why do you need the knife?" Fin questioned, hoping he'd give one up.

"Just for this purpose." He removed the knife from her neck, but reached down and pulled her shirt up to her ribs. He pressed the knife down hard across her side and dragged it between her ribs. Olivia loudly groaned at the pain. He moved down one rib and cut another deep gash into her side. She was crying the whole time, but that didn't stop him from doing it once more, longer and deeper than the previous two. He let her go and tossed her to the floor; she rolled to face the wall.

"Fin…" She breathed. Elliot kicked her again and she cried out in pain. "Fin, please help me." She breathed out. "He's going to kill me." Her words barely left her mouth when the door was kicked in and Elliot reached for Olivia. She squeezed her eyes shut and prayed for Elliot not to pull the trigger. He had her on her knees, holding her upright by her hair.

There was no gunshot, only Fin yelling at Elliot, "You need to let her go, Elliot. She needs to get to a hospital." When Olivia opened her eyes, Fin was about five feet in front of them with his gun pointed at Elliot, and Elliot had his gun buried into the back of her head.

"Elliot, I'm sorry for anything I did," She began, trying not to cry in front of Fin, "But please just put your gun down. We can all walk out of here and-"

"Shut it, Olivia." Elliot growled. "I'm not letting you go. You mean too much." He slid his hand around her waist and pulled her up, closer into him. He grabbed the piece of duct tape and put it back over her mouth. Her shirt was soaked in blood and she began feeling faint. She couldn't keep her eyes open anymore and was leaning against the counter.

"Elliot, if she dies, you're going down for murder and I know you don't want that. Just let her go and we can talk about this, man to man." Fin said, taking a step towards them.

Elliot strategically placed himself behind Olivia so Fin couldn't get a shot. "There's nothing to talk about." He pulled out his knife again.

"Elliot, stop. You don't need to use that." Fin said, staring at Olivia who was barely conscious.

"What are you going to do? Shoot me? There's no way you would risk her life." He said, knowing he was right as he brought the blade to the other side of Olivia's abdomen.

Once she felt the blade on her skin, she started whimpering. She tried moving away from him, but she had almost no energy left. He dug the knife into her skin and her eyes shot open and looked right into Fin's. They were pleading for him to help her, but there was nothing he could do without possibly shooting Olivia. She let herself go limp, but Elliot had his arm wrapped tight around her, keeping her from falling.

"Elliot, she's going to die." Fin said, stepping forward.

Elliot didn't reply, he only brought the knife back against her ribs and cut hard and quick. Olivia screamed out and fell back against Elliot, who stumbled with the unexpected weight. Fin saw his chance and took it. He jumped forward and punched Elliot, but before he had the chance to grab the gun, he pulled the trigger and a gunshot rang through the entire house. He punched Elliot harder and knocked him out and Olivia was barely conscious.

She felt warm blood pooling around her. He shot her. Fin grabbed the gun and threw it out into the bedroom.

"Get the medics in here now!" Fin yelled out. He gently pulled the tape from her mouth. "Liv, stay with me. You're going to be okay. Keep your eyes open for me, Liv." She couldn't open her eyes. Her breaths were short and shallow. It hurt her ribs too much to take deep breaths. The medics rushed in and she let herself lose consciousness.

*At the hospital*

Casey came running in, with Melinda behind her, "Fin! Where's Liv?! Is she going to be okay?"

"She's in surgery right now. The bastard shot her." Fin said, still shaking.

"Is she going to make it?" Casey said, now crying.

"Liv's a fighter. She'll pull through." Melinda spoke up, putting her hand on Casey and Fin's shoulders.

"What the hell happened?!" Cragen came around the corner with Munch.

"Cap, he shot her. She's in surgery." Fin explained, again.

"Son-of-a-bitch." Cragen mumbled. "Munch, get to the station and get Elliots statement before he decides to change his mind about what happened." Munch nodded and took off. "Do we have any witnesses other than you, Fin?"

"Me." Casey spoke up. "And Elliots kids. They're who called the police."

"Where are they now?" Cragen asked.

"The last time I saw them, I told them to go to the nearest police station." Casey explained.

"Okay, I'll call and have them come down here, they're probably worried sick." Cragen said, pulling out his phone.

"I'll do it, Don." Casey said, already dialing Maureen's number, she walked outside to get some air.

"Casey? Is Olivia okay? Are you okay? What happened?" Maureen asked frantically.

"Olivia's in surgery. She was shot. I'm coming to pick you guys up and bring you here. You all need to make statements about what happened, but not yet."

"Was Dad the one that shot her?" She asked, hoping it not to be true.

"Yes, he was." Casey answered hesitantly.

"Okay." She sniffled. "When will you be here?"

"In about twenty minutes." Casey said, walking back inside to grab her keys.

"Okay. Bye."

"I'm heading to pick up Elliots kids. They're going to want to be here when she gets out of surgery." She looked around for her keys when she realized she gave them to Maureen. "Melinda, will you drive me to pick up Elliots kids? I gave them my keys and that's how they got out."

"Sure thing, let's go." She said, walking out with Casey.

As they left, Cragen turned to Fin. "I need to take your statement." Fin nodded and they went to and empty office, with permission from security.

"Alright, what happened?" Cragen asked.

"When I arrived on-scene, I heard Olivia yelling from outside. I broke down the door and began calling for her. When she replied, she told me that Elliot wanted everyone to get out. I asked if she was okay, then Elliot said she was fine. I tried to get him to let her go, but he said it was too late."

"What happened after that?"

"There wasn't noise for a few seconds, then I heard him slap her and she tried screaming, but it was muffled, like her mouth was shut. I heard him hit her twice more than she tried to scream again and he said that she 'needed to learn how to shut up' and I heard another door slam, the bathroom door. Then she started screaming like no other and I assume he was attacking her, so we rushed in." Fin paused to take a breath.

"Then what?"

"He said if we came into the bathroom he would shoot her. I had to check to be sure she was still conscious, so I asked if she could say something."

"And did she?"

"She was begging Elliot not to shoot her. It was quiet for a minute, and then she told me he had a knife. I could hear her crying as he cut her with the knife. I heard her fall, or be pushed, then she started asking me to help her; that he would kill her."

"Then what did you do?"

"I kicked the door in and saw Elliot holding the gun at Olivia's head. She was handcuffed, had tape over her mouth and she was bleeding profusely from her abdomen and seemed to be barely conscious. She cut her twice in front of me, the second time she fell into him and that's when I punched him, but before I grabbed the gun, he shot her, then punched him again and he was unconscious. I called for the medics and they came in."

"Thank you, Fin."

When Cragen and Fin walked back out to the waiting room, Casey and Melinda were back with the kids.

"We're going to need all of you to give statements about what happened tonight, but we don't have to do it right now." Cragen said, carefully.

"I want to get it out of the way." Kathleen said, stepping forward.

"Okay, this way." Cragen said, leading her to a private room. "Alright, can you tell me what all happened tonight?"

She drew in a deep breath. "When he came home, he was wasted, he started calling for Olivia, but she wasn't there. He was just yelling nonsense and Maureen and I tried calming him down, but he kept going on and on about how he wanted Olivia. So I told him that he was insane, and then he slapped me."

She sniffled, and then continued. "Maureen tried getting me upstairs, but Dad said he needed to teach me a lesson about respect. He pushed me into the hallway and shoved Maureen upstairs. He hit me a couple times and started waving his gun around. I didn't say anything because I didn't know what he was going to do."

"Then what happened?" Cragen asked, leaning forward.

"I heard Olivia start calling for me, I assumed Maureen called her. She came into the room and tried talking to Dad about letting me leave. He started yelling at her, and then he hit her and knocked her down. That's when Casey walked in. When he saw her, he put the gun to my head and screamed for her to get out. He pushed me to Casey and pointed the gun at Olivia, that's when we left the room. Casey told me to go upstairs and tell Maureen it was okay to leave. I heard her screaming and him yelling more before we left and called the police."

"Thank you, Kathleen." Cragen said. "I am very sorry you had to go through all of this with your dad."

"I'm more concerned about Olivia than anyone else." She replied.

They walked back out and Cragen looked towards Maureen. "You ready?"

She nodded and followed him to the room, where she explained the same story and how she had called Olivia, how Casey had come in and gave her the keys and told her to leave with the kids.

He thanked her as well and walked out. He was just about to have Casey give her statement when the doctor walked out. "How is she?" Cragen asked.

"She made it through surgery. She was shot in her right hip. She also had multiple large cuts on her ribs and abdomen that we had to stitch up. I'd like to keep her for a few days while she heals. She won't have any permanent damage and should be back to normal in about two or three months."

"Can we see her?" Kathleen asked.

"Right this way. She should be waking up soon." The doctor led them to her room.

They all walked in and didn't say a word. They were too shocked at the sight of Olivia. She had multiple bruises on her face and arms; she also had ligature marks on her wrists from the cuffs. Olivia started mumbling in her sleep. "El, stop, please."

Casey figured she was having a nightmare about what happened. She put a hand on her shoulder and gently shook her. "Olivia, it's Casey. You're safe, honey."

Olivia opened her eyes and saw everyone crowded around her bed.

"Olivia, you're going to be okay. The surgery went well and they expect you to make a full recovery." Fin said, stepping closer to her.

"Surgery?" Olivia echoed. "What surgery? What happened?" She asked, panicked.

"Do you not remember anything?" Cragen said.

"I remember I was at Elliots, and he was…" She trailed off and started remembering everything. "Oh god. The bastard shot me, didn't he?"

"Yeah, he did. He hit your right hip, so try not to move too much." Melinda answered.

Olivia tried readjusting and gasped as pain went shooting through her whole abdomen, tugging on her stiches. "So what's going to happen now?" Olivia asked.

"Well, Elliot gave his statement, admitted to everything, so he's pleading guilty and-"Casey started.

"What!?" Olivia interrupted. "No! He'll lose his job!"

"Let's go grab something to eat, guys." Cragen said towards Elliots kids, leading them out of the room to give Olivia, Casey and Melinda privacy.

"Olivia, he tried to kill you." Melinda said sternly.

"He was drunk and-"

"How can you defend him, Olivia?" Casey yelled. "He shot you! He beat you nearly to death multiple times and you can just go and pretend like nothing happened?" Casey snapped, she didn't mean to be so harsh, but she was outraged.

"I'm not pressing any charges. I don't want him to lose his job. He's a good cop." Olivia protested.

"Okay. So how about if we order anger management and rehab? No jail time." Casey offered, still fuming.

Olivia was too angry to say anything. Melinda spoke up, "Olivia, he can't get away with what he's done to you."

"Fine, Casey."

"Good. You'll have to testify though." Casey said, still grumpy.

Olivia only sighed. Melinda gave Casey a look that told her to leave. She put her hands over her head as in giving up and left the room. Melinda looked back towards Olivia.

"Liv, I know you care about Elliot and you want him to keep his job, but he damn near killed you and he needs to get some sort of help." Melinda said carefully. Olivia nodded with her eyes closed. "So, Liv, will you testify?"

"Sure." She sighed, again. "I just don't get it. What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing, Olivia. None of this was your fault, any of it."

"Then why do I feel so guilty and pathetic?" She said quietly.

"Because, that's what Elliot drilled into your mind, every time he hit you. He didn't want you to tell anyone, so he made you believe it was your fault so that you wouldn't tell anyone." Melinda said, slowly. "Do you want to talk to someone about this? A professional? I think it would-"

Olivia cut her off, "I don't need to see a shrink, Mel."

Melinda sighed. "Will you at least try talking to Huang? It might help."

"If I agree, will you drop it?" Olivia asked, getting frustrated again. Melinda only looked at her, but nodded slightly. "Then okay."

"Good. I'll give him a call." Melinda said, standing up and walking out. "Get some rest, Olivia."

As Melinda walked back out, she walked up to Cragen and told him that Olivia had agreed to talk to Huang.

"Good, I think it'd be really helpful in helping her understand what was going on." He said. "Casey left to go deal with Elliot and his kids were picked up by Kathy, not too long ago."

"Okay. I'll call Huang and get him down here soon."

Olivia had slept for only about an hour before she heard a knock on her door. "Liv?" Dr. Huang poked his head into her room.

"Hi, George. Come in." She waved him in and adjusted herself so she was sitting up, hoping he didn't see her wince at the pain.

He didn't seem to as he pulled up a chair. "How are you feeling, Liv?" He asked.

"Like shit, actually." She answered honestly.

"Why is that?"

"Well this is either the third or fourth time I've been here; I lost count, because of Elliot." She said, flatly.

"Elliot?" George questioned. "What did he do?"

"Nobody told you yet?" Olivia was shocked, everyone else knew about the horrible things he had done to her.

"No, Melinda only called me and asked to come down to talk to you. I had no idea Elliot was involved. What happened with you two?"

Olivia took a deep breath and sighed. "Well, a while ago, he began drinking; a lot. One night in the squad room we got into an argument and he slapped me." She paused to take another breath. "When we went home, he got drunk and just blew up on me, he started attacking me and it just kept getting worse and worse from there." She stopped, looking down.

"Can you tell me what happened that put you here?"

"He was really drunk and things got out of control. His kids got involved, Casey and Fin both were there and after a while of knocking me around, and cutting me with a knife, he shot me." She let out a sob.

"Oh, Olivia." George said. "You blame yourself, don't you?" He asked after a few moments.

"I let him keep doing it. I didn't fight back, I didn't leave." She said, pitifully.

"Olivia, this isn't your fault. I don't know for a fact, but he most likely started hurting you, because you're the closest person to him. It was easier to hurt you than face his problems. His drinking added to his problems and once he started hurting you, he must have felt like it was an outlet. This is not your fault at all. He needs to get intense help." He said, matter-of-factly.

"I just don't know what to do." Olivia said.

"Right now, you need to take care of yourself. Get plenty of rest."

"Okay." She shifted down and brought the blanket up to her shoulders.

"I'll stop by again soon, Liv." George said and left.

A few days later, Olivia had been regaining her strength and feeling better, mentally as well. She had talked with George every day and would be released from the hospital soon.

It was morning and Olivia had just woken up. She was shocked to hear a knock on the door so early. "Come in..?" She said, hesitantly.

"Hello, Olivia." Spoke the familiar voice of Kathy, before she stepped into view.

"Kathy?" Olivia was confused. "What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk." She said, angrily.

"Okay? What about?"

"My kids. None of them have slept well since the night all of this happened. Lizzie has nightmares every night and Kathleen refuses to talk about what happened." She spat accusingly at Olivia.

"Kathy, I'm so sorry, if I would have known-"

"This is all your fault, Olivia. You knew that they heard and even saw what was going on! Did you not think about how it would affect them, seeing their father like that?! How could you let this happen?!" Kathy yelled at Olivia.

Olivia's jaw dropped open. "Are you kidding me? Why not go talk to your ex-husband about that!" She said back, angry that she had blamed her for this. Her hands had started shaking.

"Why didn't you press charges earlier? You had to wait until one of MY kids got hurt to finally come to your senses! Dammit, Olivia, you're so selfish!" Kathy yelled.

Before Olivia could say anything, Casey walked in. "What the hell are you doing here?" She said, suddenly enraged at seeing Kathy yell at Olivia.

"I was just leaving." Kathy spat, glaring at Olivia, then shoved past Casey and out the door.

"Olivia, are you okay?" Casey asked, "What'd she say?"

"I'm fine. No wonder Elliot divorced her." Olivia said, still shaking from being angry at Kathy.

"Well, she's gone now. How are you feeling today?" Casey asked, trying to change the subject.

"Fine. I just want to go home." She snapped. A moment later after realizing what she just did, she said, "I'm sorry Casey, I'm just-"

"It's okay, Liv. Come on, I'll take you home." Casey said, walking over to Olivia to help her off the bed.

"Thanks, Case."

Once they got Olivia up and back to Casey's house, Olivia went into the guest room and fell asleep within minutes. She was startled awake by the house phone ringing, but she rolled back over when she heard it stop.

"What do you mean you can't find him!?" She heard Casey yell from the other room. Olivia shot up and listened for a bit longer before getting up and making her way down the hall. "You better find him soon," She said angrily into the phone. "He knows she's here."

"Casey?" Olivia stood in the doorway

Casey spun around, startled by Olivia. She held up a finger as if telling her to hold on as she listened to the person on the other side of the phone. "Okay. Thank you for letting me know. I'll do that. Thank you." She said angrily and slammed the phone back onto the receiver.

She stood staring at the wall with her hand on her hip before speaking again. "Elliot jumped bail. Nobody knows where he is." Casey said, looking towards Olivia. "He knows you're staying with me, so you're going to stay with Melinda and we'll have a patrol car stationed outside her apartment."

"Is Melinda okay with that, I mean, I can stay here or with someone else if she wants or-" Olivia started rambling, still half asleep, but Casey cut her off.

"Olivia, she doesn't mind. We all want you to be safe, so we're going to get your stuff together and have Cragen pick you up and bring you there, okay?" Olivia nodded and wrapped her arms around herself. "I'll make some coffee for you while you pack." Casey suggested.

She headed toward the kitchen and Olivia shuffled back to the guest room. Getting her stuff together wasn't hard, being that she had barely unpacked since she had got there. She walked with her bags out to the living room, set them by the door and walked into the kitchen.

"Here, Liv." Casey said, handing her coffee.

"Thanks." Olivia sipped the coffee and let the warmth flow through her.

"Olivia," Casey started, "I'm really sorry Elliot has put you through so much. You really deserve better than this."

Olivia only shrugged and continued drinking her coffee. About thirty minutes later, there was a knock on the door and Casey opened it to Cragen.

"Hi, Casey." He said, stepping inside.

"Hi Don." Casey replied. "Liv's in the kitchen." He nodded and walked toward the kitchen.

"Liv?" He called before he walked in, "You ready?" He looked over to where she was sitting. She looked exhausted. She had on baggy shorts and a tank top, her bruises and stitches had begun healing, but were still visible. Her hair as up into a messy ponytail and her eyes were dull and droopy.

"Liv, you look terrible." He said.

"Thanks, Cap." She said sarcastically, downing the rest of her coffee.

"That's not what I meant, Liv. Have you been sleeping?" He asked, walking over to her.

She shrugged again and looked at him, "Enough."

"Alright, well let's get you going." Cragen let Olivia hold his arm to keep her balance. "Casey, would you mind grabbing a bag?"

"Sure thing." She walked over to the front door and opened it for Olivia and Cragen, then grabbed Olivia's bags and put them in the trunk of Cragens car. "Take care, Olivia. I'll see you soon!" Casey said her goodbyes to Olivia and Cragen and watched them drive off before returning to the inside of her home.

The car ride had been silent for a few moments before Olivia spoke up, "I hope you know where you're going; I've never been to Melinda's."

He chuckled and said, "Me either." Olivia turned her head to look at him, and then he explained, "She gave me the address. We're almost there, actually. So there's going to be a squad car parked out there 24/7. If Elliot contacts you, I want you to call me and I will be there in minutes, okay?"

"Okay." The reality that Elliot could be anywhere suddenly hit her hard. He could come after her or his family or anybody else. "What happens if he hurts me again?" Olivia whispered.

"We won't let him, Olivia." Cragen said, putting his hand on her knee. "We'll find him."

Olivia let out a shaky breath and tried to pull herself together again. Cragen pulled into an apartment complex and led Olivia from the car into the building. Melinda met them in the lobby. It looks like she had been dressed for sleep too; sweats and an old t-shirt. "Melinda, I'm sorry if I woke you." Olivia said, with her head down.

"It's okay, Liv. You need to be safe. Come on, let's get upstairs."

"I'll bring her bags up in a minute." Cragen called, and then went to inform the man at the front desk about the situation.

Once the girls got up to Melinda's apartment, Olivia was very sore from moving a lot. Melinda opened the door and revealed a small and homey apartment. "Well, this is it." Melinda said. Olivia jumped at the sound of a dog barking. "I hope you're not allergic to dogs." Melinda said as a large black dog trotted out of one of the rooms up to them.

"No, I didn't know you had a dog, though." Olivia said, reaching out to pat the dog's head.

"Yeah, with my job, it's nice to come home to something breathing." Melinda said with a chuckle. "Come on, the guest room is this way." Melinda helped Olivia into the back room. "Do you need anything, Liv?"

"No thanks, I think I'm going to try to get some sleep." Olivia said, nestling into the bed.

"Okay." Melinda nodded. "Tomorrow I have the day off, so I can make us some breakfast." She turned the light off. "Night, Olivia."

"Goodnight." Olivia said and rolled onto her back. She stared at the ceiling thinking. _What if he comes looking for me? What if he finds out I'm not with Casey anymore? He knows where she lives. What if he threatens her? I should call her in the morning._ She rolled over trying to push the thoughts of Elliot out of her mind and fell asleep after about ten minutes.

The next morning she woke to the smell of coffee and pancakes. She got up and wrapped the blanket she slept under around her shoulders and shuffled out to the kitchen. "Something smells amazing!" Olivia said, forcing a smile onto her face.

"Thank you." Melinda said, sliding a cup of orange juice across the counter to Olivia. "So what would you like to start?"

"Whatever you've got." Olivia said with a laugh. Melinda slid a plate of pancakes, bacon and eggs over to her, then dished up herself and sat down.

Olivia jumped at the sound of her phone ringing. She looked down to see who was calling and it was Cragen.

"Benson."

"Liv, we have a lead on Elliot." He said.

"Great. Where?"

"Someone had spotted him at a bar about 5 blocks from Casey's house last night. They said he left about three hours ago. Casey has been at work all morning, so if he stopped by, he went to an empty house, but I'm sending Fin and Munch there now to make sure he wasn't there."

"Okay. Thank you." Olivia said, before hanging up the phone.

"Did they find him?" Melinda asked.

"Not yet, but they're getting closer. I need to call Casey." Olivia got up and walked into what is now her bedroom and dialed Casey's number.

"Liv? Is everything okay?" Casey answered.

"Yeah, they found out that Elliot was at a bar near your house last night. They're sending someone to your place to check it out and make sure he wasn't there or anything." Olivia said, relieved that Casey had answered the phone.

"Alright, but I'll be fine. Thanks for calling, Liv." Casey hung up.

Olivia walked back out to Melinda's kitchen and finished her breakfast. The two women decided to have a lazy day and watch movies. Before they knew it, they had spent the entire day watching movies. It was starting to get dark again. "I think I'm going to hit the hay, Liv. You should get some rest too." Melinda said, standing up.

"Sounds good. I just want to call Casey first, make sure she got home safe." Olivia said, pulling out her phone.

"Okay. Tell her I said hi." Melinda said with a laugh and a goodnight wave.

When Casey didn't answer her cell phone, Olivia tried calling her at the office, still no answer. _Pick up the phone, Casey._ She tried calling her cell phone twice more, still without her answering and then she decided to call Cragen.

"Cragen."

"It's Liv. Have you heard from Casey lately? She's not answering her phone." Olivia said quickly.

"No, I haven't. She went home a while ago; I'll send someone there now to check on her." Cragen said.

"Okay. Thanks." Olivia said, hanging up the phone._ It'll take someone too long to get from the station to her house; it'd be faster if I took a cab._ She thought to herself. She got up, grabbed her jacket and went out the front door.

By the time she got a cab and got to Casey's house, only about fifteen minutes had passed since she'd called Cragen. The patrol car hadn't even shown up yet. She handed the driver his money and walked up to Casey's house.

Before she had the chance to knock on the door, it swung open. Olivia gasped as she looked into the eyes of Elliot, standing in the doorway.


	2. Chapter 2

Before she had the chance to knock on the door, it swung open. Olivia gasped as she looked into the eyes of Elliot, standing in the doorway.

"Olivia. I've missed you so much. Where have you been?" He was drunk.

"What are you doing here, Elliot?" Olivia asked, taking a step back.

"Well, I heard you were staying with Casey, and I missed you," He sounded very sincere, but quickly changed his tone. "So I wanted to come see you," He took a few steps forward, "But I guess you didn't want to see me."

"Where's Casey?" Olivia said, trying not to shake.

Elliot pulled his gun out and looked down at it as he spoke, "Why do you care about everyone but me, Olivia? Don't I matter to you anymore?" Olivia just stayed silent, eyes glued to the gun. "Olivia?" He repeated, looking up at her now, "Do you not care about me anymore?" He actually sounded hurt.

"Elliot, please tell me where Casey is, or that she's okay. Then we can talk about us." She said, backing up slightly again.

Elliot angrily marched towards her, put his arm around her waist and tugged on her, causing her to make a noise of discomfort. She could smell the alcohol on him before he even got close to her. "If you care so much about Casey, we will go see her." He kept his grip around her waist and pulled her into the house. He slammed the front door and pushed Liv forward, "Go find her. I'm going to have a drink." He said, walking into the kitchen.

Olivia moved as quickly as she could through the house in search of Casey. She began calling her name and heard a small response from the bathroom. She jiggled the handle, but the door was locked. "Casey, it's me, Liv. Open the door." The door opened and Casey grabbed Olivia's arm and quickly pulled her into the bathroom, locking the door again.

"Liv, what are you doing here?" Casey asked, terrified.

"You weren't answering your phone and I got worried, and now I see I was right. Are you okay?" Olivia asked, noticing the black eye Casey had. "Casey, did he hit you?" Casey let a stray tear roll down her cheek and nodded. "Was it only just once?" Olivia asked, grabbing her hand. Casey didn't say anything; she only lifted her shirt, revealing a large blue-ish black bruise forming on her stomach. "What happened?"

"I came home and he was here, just on my couch. I asked what he wanted and he said he wanted to know where you were and why you weren't here. I told him I didn't know where you went and he punched me and called me a liar. I tried running to call someone, but he grabbed me and punched me again, then he heard someone outside, he shoved me in here, so I locked the door." Casey explained in a hushed tone.

"Do you still have your phone?" Olivia asked.

"No, he threw it at the wall."

"Damn. I left mine at Melinda's."

"So what do we do now?" Casey asked

Olivia opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, she heard Elliot shouting for her.

"Olivia! Where the hell are you?! I'm ready to talk now!" He shouted angrily.

Olivia started standing up, but Casey grabbed her arm, "What are you doing? You can't go out there!"

"Either I go out there, or he'll break down that door. It'll be okay." Olivia gave her a sad smile, opened the door and shut it behind her and whispered for Casey to lock it again.

"Elliot?" Olivia called softly. She turned the corner and saw him sitting on the arm of the couch, just waiting for her.

"Now that I let you see Casey, we're going to talk now. Sit." He said, patting the couch cushion closest to him. Olivia chose to sit on the other side of the couch.

"El, I don't know if this is such a good idea." She said, hesitatingly.

"I held up my end of the deal, now you have to." He slurred, glaring at her.

"Okay. So what did you want to talk about?"

"I know why you left, Olivia. I know why you're scared, but you were really going to press charges against me?" He scooted closer to her.

"I didn't want to at first, but-"

"But what, Olivia?" He spat.

"You shot me, Elliot. You put me in the hospital more than once! I just-" She was starting to get angry, but Elliot cut her off again.

"I didn't mean to shoot you, Liv. It was Fin's fault. I tried to shoot him, but you got in the way."

"So this is everyone else's fault, but yours?" Olivia spat back at him.

"Watch it, Liv." He raised his hand to her, like he was about to slap her and she flinched away and braced herself, but the hit never came. He only laughed at her. "You're so weak, Olivia. Do you really think you'll be able to testify against me?" He took her hand in his, knowing him being so close made her uncomfortable.

"Yes. I do." She ripped her hand from his and stood up. "I'm not going to be afraid anymore. You need to get out, right now."

"We're not done here, Liv." Elliot said. She gasped as he grabbed her hips and forced her to sit back down. "Oh, sorry, Olivia. Is that where I shot you?" He began rubbing her hip roughly over the bandages that were still on.

"Elliot, knock it off." She grabbed his hand and turned her body so that side was away from him.

"Hey," He grabbed her knees and pulled her back toward him. He leaned in closer to her and whispered in her ear, "Even after all the time we spent together, we never got to do anything… special." His hand that was resting on her knee was now slowly making its way up her leg. She suddenly felt very exposed in her shorts and tank top.

"Elliot, stop." She put her hand on his. "This is a really bad idea." She tried to move away from him and stand up, but he held her arm tight.

"Why, honey?" He whispered again, kissing her neck.

"You're already in enough trouble, El. You don't need this too. Let go of my arm." She tugged her arm back and stood up.

He stood up and wrapped his arms around her waist again and said, "You know you've always wanted this, Liv. Why change your mind now?"

"You're insane!" She yelled, "This is not going to happen! Get out!" She shoved him away from her.

"I'm not going anywhere until I get what I want from you, Liv." He walked back over to her and pushed her against the wall. Before she could say anything else, his lips crashed down onto hers, and his hands were on her neck, holding her head still.

She tried screaming, but Elliot jammed his tongue into her mouth. She wrenched herself out of his grasp and backed away from him. "Elliot, please. Just stop. I won't press charges, okay? Please. Just go." She said, starting to tear up. She hoped Casey could somehow call for help.

"We're way past that, Olivia. Now come back here." He demanded.

She didn't move from where she was standing and she said, "I'm not going to do this, Elliot."

His eyes turned dark and he took two steps and was in her face. "You're going to do whatever I tell you to do." He put his hands back around her hips.

"Not this, Elliot. Please. I already said I won't press charges. I won't testify."

"Fine." He pushed her away from him. He walked down the hall and she heard a door break open. The bathroom. Casey. No. He walked back out, holding Casey's arm behind her back and the gun to her head. "If you won't, she will." He said, using his free hand to undo the button and zipper of her slacks.

"Elliot, stop. Please, just let her go." When she saw that he kept going, she took a deep breath and sighed, "I'll do whatever you want. Just let Casey leave."

Casey's eyes shot wide open when she understood what was going on. "Olivia… no."

Elliot shoved Casey to the side, walked over to Olivia and whispered, "Promise?"

Olivia kept her head down, so Casey wouldn't see her crying, and nodded. "I promise." She said just loud enough for Elliot to hear.

"Olivia?" Casey said quietly. Olivia looked up at her, but didn't say anything. Casey let her tears fall when she saw the amount of pain on Olivia's face. "Olivia, you don't have to do this." Casey said, walking towards her.

"You heard her. Leave." Elliot spat at Casey.

"This is my house. I am not going anywhere." She said back, not taking her eyes off Olivia.

"Fine. Don't leave then." He said. He walked over to Casey and pulled his gun out again. He pushed her into the closet and forced the door to stay closed with a chair. "Now, where were we?" Elliot said, walking back to where Olivia was trembling.

"I said you had to let her leave." She said, stepping back.

"Well, she didn't want to leave." He moved in close to her and whispered, "If you scream, I'm not afraid to shoot you again."

She only nodded as he set his gun on the table away from Olivia. He turned back to her and kissed her again, although she continued to fight him. Without breaking contact, he shoved her down onto the couch and had her pinned. "Elliot please, I don't want to do this." Olivia tried pleading with him again.

"What you want doesn't matter anymore." He growled, "You promised."

"I know, but-"

He cut her off with a hard slap to the face. "You. Promised. This is happening now, whether you like it or not." His hand worked his way down to her waistband and slipped under it.

She started crying. She heard Casey throwing herself against the door, trying to open it and shouting for Elliot to stop. She was about to try talking to Elliot again to get him to stop when she heard sirens. Cragen sent that patrol car. Oh thank god. She began fighting him, it would only be a matter of time before someone opened the door and saw what was happening.

He jumped off her and ran up to the front door and locked it. He looked back at her with dark, angry eyes. "I guess we have to hurry up now." He walked back over to her and scooped her up off the couch. She was kicking and struggling, but he threw her into the bathroom and locked the door behind them. He lunged at her, not wasting time ripping her shorts off, although she was doing her best to fight him off.

"Elliot! Stop! It's over now! They're here!" She shouted as she continued crying.

"They're not in here yet." He growled back. He pushed her to the ground and pinned her hands above her head with one hand and undid his own pants with the other.

She was sobbing now. "Elliot, please stop! Please, don't do this!" She heard the front door get kicked down and screamed, "Help me! Someone help me!"

He punched her and told her to shut up. He pushed his knees into her inner thighs, forcing her legs apart. She continued screaming for help for only a few seconds until the bathroom door burst open and two men in uniforms pulled Elliot off of her and slapped handcuffs on him. She scrambled to cover herself, one of the men handed her a towel that was hanging in the bathroom. She was trembling. "Where's Casey?" She asked, without looking up. One of the men walking through the house and found the closet with the chair in front of it.

Once he got it open, Casey burst out and said, "Where's Olivia? Is she okay? What happened?" She ran into the bathroom and found Olivia in the bathroom shaking. "Olivia? Are you okay? What happened?" She noticed the towel around her and that her shorts were on the other side of the bathroom. "Olivia, did he rape you?" She asked, crying.

"N-no." Olivia stuttered out, "But he was going to. He had his hand in me and was kissing me."

"Let's get you checked out, Liv. Just to make sure you're okay." Casey suggested. Olivia nodded and stood up. She grabbed her shorts and pulled them on before walking out to the living room.

"You'll never keep me away from her!" Elliot was yelling as they shoved him out of the house. Olivia looked over and made eye contact with Elliot. "I love you, Olivia. I'll be out soon enough." He said with a smirk, before they shoved him into the police car and drove off.

"Don't listen to him." Casey said, nudging Olivia's shoulder. "He's not getting out for a long time."

"What if he does, though?" Olivia asked shakily. "He'll never leave me alone."

"I won't let that happen. Come on, let's get you checked out." Casey said, pulling Olivia along with her.


	3. Chapter 3

"I won't let that happen. Come on, let's get you checked out." Casey said, pulling Olivia along with her.

"Olivia!" Melinda called, causing Olivia to jump. "I woke up and you were gone. I knew you'd come here. Are you okay? What happened?"

Olivia nodded and looked back at the squad car that held Elliot cuffed in the back. He was staring at her. She just stared back at him. He almost looked like the old Elliot…

"Liv?" Casey asked, snapping Olivia out of it. "Come on, we need to go." Olivia only nodded and looked around at everyone who was around. The neighbors had come out to see what's going on and the other officers were staring at her. She held back tears as she got into Casey's car with Melinda in the backseat.

They got to the hospital and Olivia was getting checked over. Casey needed to call Cragen.

"Casey? Olivia's worried about you. Have you called her?" Cragen said when he answered.

"I know. She came to my house. Elliot was there. We're at the hospital. He tried to rape her, Don." Casey said, sadly.

"That son-of-a-bitch." Cragen shouted. "I'll be there soon. Is she okay?"

"I hope so." Casey sighed. Cragen hung up the phone and Casey walked over to sit with Melinda, who was now crying.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Casey asked her.

"She was staying with me and I didn't even know she left." She sobbed out.

"Hey, it's not your fault. Olivia would have left even if you told her not to. That's just who she is. She's going to be okay." Casey reassured her.

The nurse walked out and recognized Casey. "Your friend is okay, she's just shaken up. You can go see her now."

Casey and Melinda walked into Olivia's room and saw her sitting criss-cross on the bed looking down at her hands. "Liv?" Melinda said softly.

Olivia looked up at them and gave them a sad smile, then looked back down.

"Cragen is on his way." Casey tried, taking a seat next to her on the bed holding her hand, while Melinda sat in the chair. Olivia just nodded. Melinda stood up and put a hand on Olivia's back. Olivia jumped and squeezed Casey's hand, then realized it was just Melinda.

"I'm sorry, Liv. I didn't mean to scare you." Melinda said, sitting on the other side of Olivia.

"It's okay. So is Elliot locked up now?" She asked Casey.

"Yes, and there is someone posted outside of his cell 24/7. He won't be getting out anytime soon." Casey said, rubbing the back of Olivia's hand.

Olivia nodded again. There was a knock on the door and they all looked up to see Cragen, Munch and Fin. "You okay, Liv?"

"I will be." She said quietly.

"Well get him for you." Fin said, sitting in a chair. Olivia smiled her thanks at him.

"So now what happens?" Olivia asked Cragen.

"Well, if you're ready to press charges, we take him to court." He replied.

"Okay." She agreed.

The process to get a trail started took longer than Olivia had thought. Elliot is pleading not guilty and his lawyer had Casey removed as Council, because she had been attacked by Elliot also. Cragen called Alexandra Cabot and asked if she would take over the case. She agreed immediately, and then rushed into the precinct to visit Olivia.

Olivia was sitting at her desk talking with Munch and Fin when Alex came running in. "Olivia!" She yelled and ran over to her. She already had tears in her eyes when Olivia pulled her into a hug. "I missed you. I'm so sorry about everything that's happened, Liv."

"Me too. But I'm ready to face it now." Olivia said.

"Okay, good. Let's go over your testimony." Alex suggested, leading Olivia to her office.

They continued going over what to say on the stand, and Olivia began feelings nervous about seeing Elliot at trial. "What if I mess this up, Alex?" Olivia asked quietly. "What if he's not convicted?"

Alex put her pen down and saw that Olivia was shaking. "You're going to do fine, Liv. We have Casey and Fin as witnesses as well as Elliot's kids. He's going to be put away for a long time." Olivia only nodded and gave a small smile. The phone began to ring and Alex stood up to answer it.

"Alex Cabot." As she listened to the voice on the other side, her face dropped and when she glanced over to Olivia, Olivia knew something is wrong with the trial. "I understand. Yes. Thank you." She hung up the phone and brought her hand to her mouth.

"What is it?" Olivia asked, sitting forward.

"Uh. Elliot fired his lawyer. He's representing himself now." Alex said, walking back to sit next to Olivia who began shaking once more.

"He-" She paused thinking about what that really meant. "Damn it. I don't know if I can do this." Olivia stuttered out.

"Of course you can. I'll be right there, making objections and he will not get close enough to hurt you." Alex told her. She put her arm over her shoulders. Olivia accepted her gesture and leaned into her.

At the courthouse, the day Olivia had to testify, she was standing outside on the steps, just waiting. She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself down. She was thinking about everything that he had become. They used to be best friends, and now they are at court against each other because he had abused her and tried to rape her. She let a tear roll down her cheek.

"Hey." She felt a hand on her shoulder and she jumped. She turned around and was face-to-face with Elliot.

"Elliot," She tried taking a step back, but misplaced her steps and started to fall.

"Woah," Fin, who had been walking up the stairs, said as he caught her. "Get out of here, Elliot." Fin said, glaring at him.

"See you in court, Liv." Elliot said, winking and smiling at her.

Fin turned Olivia away from Elliot and looked into her eyes. "Are you okay, Liv?" She was looking at him, but not really. She was thinking off somewhere else. "Olivia." Fin said a little louder.

Olivia blinked and looked at him. "I'm okay." She said, shakily. "I just need to sit down for a second."

"Okay, let's go." Fin said, wrapping an arm around her waist and walking her inside. She was staring at the ground the whole time. Once inside they went and sat on a bench. Fin saw Cragen and said, "I'll be right back, Liv. I'm going to go talk to the captain." She nodded and Fin stood and walked toward their boss.

Olivia didn't even hear Alex call her name. "Liv?" Alex said, putting her hand on her arm. Olivia jumped and looked up. "It's time, come on." Olivia slowly stood up and followed Alex to the courtroom. The bailiff walked out and called out, "Olivia Benson." She took a deep breath and walked up to the witness box.

Alex walked up first. "Ms. Benson. Why you are here today?"

"Yes, because the defendant, Elliot Stabler, attacked me."

"Can you tell the Jury what happened?"

Olivia took a deep breath and began, "I was uh, staying with Melinda Warner, and I tried to call Casey Novak to check on her, because Elliot knew where she lived, but she didn't answer, so I went there."

"You went there even though you knew Elliot could have been there?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I wanted to protect her if he was indeed there."

"Please continue."

"I got there and I was walking toward the door and he opened it. He had his gun and forced me inside. He went to the kitchen to have a drink and I looked for Casey."

"And where was she?" Alex prompted.

"Hiding. In the bathroom. She had a black eye and a bruise on her stomach." Olivia said, glancing at Elliot who was smirking.

"Then what happened?"

"He called for me to come talk to him. I walked out to the living room and sat on the couch. He asked me if I was brave enough to testify, I said I was and that he needed to leave. He started feeling my legs and saying that we hadn't done anything special." She spat the last word out.

"Meaning?" Alex questioned, even though she knew what it meant.

"Sex." Olivia answered.

"He wanted to have sex?" Alex asked.

"Yes."

"Did you?" Alex asked slowly.

"No." Olivia's hands started shaking slightly.

"What happened next?"

"He, uh, kissed my neck and said, 'you know you've always wanted this.' I told him he was crazy and that he needed to leave, but he wouldn't. He pushed me against the wall and kissed me again. I pushed away and told him I wouldn't testify if he just left."

"And did he?" Alex asked.

"No. He went down the hall and brought Casey out to the living room with a gun pointed at her. He said if I wouldn't have sex with him, he would make her."

"Objection!" Elliot shouted.

"Overruled." The judge said.

"Go on." Alex said, glaring at Elliot.

"He started undoing her pants and I told him I would, if he let Casey go. She refused to leave me alone with him, so he locked her in the closet. He told me he would shoot me if I screamed, and then he began kissing me. I asked him to stop, but he slapped me and said 'this is going to happen, whether you like it or not' then..." She trailed off. Her hands were shaking even more now.

"Ms. Benson?" Alex asked. "Do you need a minute?"

"No." Olivia replied. She took a deep breath before continuing. "He shoved his hands down my shorts and began assaulting me." Olivia's voice was shaking. "We heard sirens and he jumped off of me, ran to the door and locked it. He came back at me and said we had to hurry. He picked me up and threw me in the bathroom."

"What happened in the bathroom?" Alex asked.

Olivia took another deep breath, "I tried fighting him off, but he was stronger and he… ripped my shorts off and pinned me down." She let a couple tears fall. She hated saying all of this out loud. "I heard the front door get kicked down and the police calling for me. I was screaming for help and he punched me and told me to be quiet. He forced his knees into my thighs and he was about to.. To rape me, but the police kicked open the bathroom door just in time and pulled him off of me." Olivia ended with a huge breath and a sigh.

"Thank you, Ms. Benson. Nothing further." Alex said and walked back to her chair.

"Your witness." The judge said to Elliot.

"Your honor, could we…" Olivia began.

"Would you like a short recess?" The judge asked. Olivia nodded. "Okay. Fifteen minute recess."

Olivia stood up and walked out of the courtroom and strait to the bathroom. She vomited into one of the toilets. "Olivia?" Alex walked in. "Are you okay?" Olivia walked out of the stall. Her makeup was running down her face and she was trembling. "Oh, Liv."

"I'll be okay." Olivia said, splashing water on her face then trying to fix her makeup. "I just need to get through this."

"It's going to be okay." Alex said, rubbing her back. Olivia nodded and they walked back into the courtroom.

"Are you ready to proceed, detective?" The judge asked.

"Yes, your honor." Olivia said and walked back up to the witness stand.

"Your witness, Mr. Stabler."

"So, Olivia,-" Elliot began.

"Objection!" Alex shouted. "Please instruct the defendant to only address the witness by her last name."

"Sustained." He judge nodded at Elliot, prompting him to follow her order.

"Ms. Benson. You testified that you went to Casey's house to see if she was okay?" Elliot asked in a low voice.

"Yes."

"Why wouldn't she be?"

"Because you had jumped bail and knew where she lived." Olivia said.

"And?" Elliot asked.

"And you have attacked her before, in front of me."

"And when that allegedly happened, did you protect her? Hypothetically, did you stop me?"

"No…"

"No, you didn't. So what made you think you could protect her if you went there this time?"

"I don't know." She stuttered.

"You wanted to go there because you wanted to see me." Elliot insinuated.

"No."

"You wanted to go there and to see me because you wanted to try one last time and have your chance with me." Elliot shouted and Olivia's jaw dropped.

"Objection!" Alex yelled.

"Sustained."

"Withdrawn." Elliot said. "You're claiming I attempted to rape you?"

"Yes." Olivia said softly.

"Did anyone witness this so-called attempted rape?"

"Casey heard me crying and you-" She started before Elliot cut her off.

"Yes or no, Olivia, I mean- Ms. Benson." He said sternly.

"Yes, the two officers who pulled you off of me." Olivia spat.

"Ah. Do you think it's possible that what they witnessed was that we were acting out a rape-fantasy?"

"Rape fantasy?" Olivia echoed in disbelief.

"So you agree? You screaming for help and 'fighting me off'? That was all just an act wasn't it?" Elliot asked.

"No. I didn't want to. I told you that! I begged you to stop!" Olivia yelled.

"Then why, if you didn't want to see me, go to Casey's house where you knew I could have been?" Elliot shouted back.

"I wanted to protect her if you were there." Olivia's voice was shaking again.

"Like you hypothetically protected her the other time?" Elliot shouted.

When Olivia didn't say anything, Alex objected. "Over ruled."

"I don't know." Olivia whispered.

"You were there because you wanted to see me because you wanted to accuse me of rape to get back at me for whatever I had done to you."

"You beat me! You attacked me every day and put me in the hospital multiple times!" Olivia shouted.

"Yet you didn't leave me?" Elliot asked, smirking.

"I was afraid for your children."

"Why? I had never hurt them."

"And when I did leave, you did. You put a gun to your own daughters head before shooting me."

"Objection!" Elliot said, "Beyond the scope of trial."

Alex looked at the judge in disbelief when he ruled sustained. "The jury will disregard the witness's outburst."

"So, Olivia, I mean, Ms. Benson. Only you and I really know what happened whether it was actually rape or if it was rape fantasy, correct?"

Olivia glared at him hard while saying, "Yes."

"So there was no actual rape, yes?"

"Yes." She said through gritted teeth.

"No evidence, no witnesses, no attempted rape." Elliot stated, before saying, "Nothing further."

"Detective, you may step down." Olivia nodded and walked back out of the courtroom and ran into Cragen.

"Hey, how'd it go?" He asked.

"Awful. He tried to pin it on me saying it was rape fantasy and that I made it all up." Olivia growled as Cragen pulled her into a hug.

*Back in the courtroom.*

"I'll hear closing arguments." The judge said. "Ms. Cabot?"

"Elliot Stabler is an alcoholic, an abusive man and a pathological liar. He physically and mentally abused an NYPD detective as well as his own children. It took a lot for Detective Benson to come forward to tell you what someone she had trusted had done to her. He has punched her, kicked her, and even choked her during his drunken or sober rages. He shot and almost killed detective Benson, then when he finally snapped, he attempted to rape her. He is a danger to not only detective Benson, but to ADA Novak and his children as he had assaulted them as well, and any other women who seemed to trust him. Don't let him back out on the street so he can victimize another women." Alex preached to the jury before taking a seat.

"Mr. Stabler." The judge prompted.

"ADA Cabot is trying to spin a tale of the big bad detective to defend her friend. All of these women are attempting to get revenge because of who knows what. There is no evidence or witnesses that I had ever assaulted anyone except these three women who are conspiring against me. Yes, I have a drinking problem, like many people across the country. Everyone has their own problems that they are dealing with. I wanted to apologize if I had hurt anyone in what I thought was a consensual rape-fantasy." He looked toward the judge, "Thank you."

Alex rushed out of the courtroom to find Olivia. She ran into Cragen who told her Olivia was outside. Alex walked out the doors to find Olivia sitting on the steps, crying. "Olivia, you did great." Olivia let out a sob, then looked up and saw reporters coming their way.

"Let's go, Liv." Alex said standing up with Olivia. "No comments!" Alex shouted to the reporters.

"Detective Benson! Can you tell us why you're accusing your partner in sex crimes of trying to rape you?!" One of the reporters shouted. "Detective Benson, is it true that your partner Elliot Stabler physically abused you for weeks and you never came forward?! Why did you allow him to do so?!" Another one shouted.

Olivia was being rushed into the courthouse by Alex who was trying to talk to her and drown out the reporters. "It's okay, Olivia, don't listen to them, come on, let's go sit somewhere quiet." But Olivia still heard the reporters shouting at her.

Once inside, Olivia lost it. She began bawling and held onto Alex for support. "It's going to be okay, Liv. Come on." Alex tried rushing her into a small office, but as they turned the corner, Olivia literally ran into Elliot.

"Hey, Olivia. What's wrong?" Elliot asked, with a concerned look on his face.

"You son-of-a-" Olivia muttered and swung at Elliot.

"Woah!" Alex said, grabbing Olivia's arm before she struck him. "Don't make things worse, let's go." She said, trying to pull Olivia with her.

"Do you really think you're going to get away with what you did to me?!" Olivia screamed at Elliot with tears streaming down her face. Alex's jaw dropped at Olivia's outburst and many heads turned, including Fin and Cragens, who started to rush over to Olivia.

"Olivia, stop. Let's go." Alex said, tugging harder on Olivia. She wrenched her arm from Alex's grasp, swung at Elliot again and struck him, hard. She went to swing again, but Cragen grabbed her arm and started pulling her away. Before she got too far out of reach, she landed a hard kick in the groin and Elliot fell to his knees. Cragen pulled Olivia into a small office and shut the door.

"Are you out of your mind?" Cragen asked. "Do you know how many people just witnessed that?"

Olivia, who had her back to Cragen, turned around. She had tears streaming down her face and she looked so broken. "I'm sorry, Captain, I wasn't thinking. I just-"

"Hey, it's okay. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you. It's going to be okay, Liv." He walked up and pulled her into a hug and she broke down, sobbing.

There was a knock on the door and Alex appeared with Fin. "Is everything okay in here?" Fin asked.

"I'm fine." Olivia said, sniffling hard and wiping her tears away. "How long do you think the Jury will take?" She asked.

"I don't know, Liv." Alex said softly.

Three days later, the Jury still had not come to a verdict. "What's taking them so long?" Fin asked, impatiently.

"I don't know." Cragen said.

Just then, Alex opened the door to Cragens office to find him, Fin, Munch and Olivia all there. "The jury's in."

*At the courthouse*

"I see you have reached a verdict?" The judge asked.

"We have, your honor." The foreman said as he handed the verdict to the bailiff who gave it to the judge.

"On the sole count of attempted rape, what is your verdict?" The judge asked.


	4. Chapter 4

"_We have, your honor." The foreman said as he handed the verdict to the bailiff who gave it to the judge._

"_On the sole count of attempted rape, what is your verdict?" The judge asked._

"We find the defendant, Elliot Stabler, not guilty."

"Elliot Stabler, you are free to go." The judge said. "However it is in your best interest to stay away from the detective." Elliot nodded and the judge continued, "The city of New York thanks the Jury for their services."

Olivia stood up and ran out of the court room with Alex right behind her. "Olivia, wait!" Alex called.

Olivia turned around to face her. "I knew this would happen." Her eyes were filled with tears. "God, I should have never said anything."

"Olivia if you would have kept this a secret, he would have killed you." Alex said. "We can get a restraining order and-"

"It doesn't matter." Olivia interrupted. "He's not going to leave me alone now that he knows he can get away with it." She turned and walked away.

Alex didn't take it personally because she knew what she was feeling. She caught a glimpse of the Jury and ran over to them. "Excuse me," she said to the foreman. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"We all felt bad for her, but there was this one person who bought the rape-fantasy edge. She wasn't going to change her mind." He informed her.

"Okay. Thank you." Alex said to him and walked over to Cragen. "What do we do now?"

"Put a protective detail on Liv and follow Elliot until he makes a wrong move then bust him."

Olivia called Casey and asked if it was okay if she could continue staying with her and Casey agreed. Once she got there, she told Casey about the verdict.

"Oh, Olivia, I'm so sorry." Casey said.

"Do you have anything to drink?" Olivia asked, getting up and looking through her cupboards.

"Uh, yeah, there's some whiskey in the top left cupboard." Casey said, slightly confused because Olivia rarely drank.

Olivia poured herself a glass and drank it, letting the burning feeling absorb in her throat. She poured another glass, a little fuller and walked to sit on the couch. _The couch that he-_ No. She couldn't go there. She drank more of her whiskey as Casey came to sit next to her.

"Are you okay, Liv?" She asked softly.

Olivia chuckled and drank the rest of her glass before slamming it onto the table. "He's not going to leave me alone." She said, hopelessly.

"If he tries anything, he-" Casey tried, before Olivia interrupted.

"If he tries anything, I'll be dead." She said casually, getting up for more whiskey.

"Olivia, I don't know if drinking would be the best thing for you right now…" Casey suggested, walking into the kitchen. Olivia didn't say anything, only continued pouring her drink. "I'm serious, Liv." Casey said, pulling the bottle and glass from her grasp. "I think you should go lay down. You've been through a lot."

"I guess." Olivia mumbled, trudging to the bedroom.

Casey just stared after her. She felt so bad for Olivia. She had been betrayed by the one person she thought she could trust the most. Olivia is the strongest person she knows and her world has been turned upside down. Casey called Cragen.

"Casey? Is everything okay?" He asked, nervous that maybe Elliot had tried something already.

"I'm worried about Liv. I don't know how to help her." Casey said quietly into the phone.

"I'm worried about her, too. Talk to her about maybe going to counseling." Cragen suggested.

"I'll try, but you know her." Casey said, smiling, thinking about how stubborn Olivia can be.

"I'm going to give her some time off work and let her recuperate; will you let her know for me?"

"Sure, although she's not going to like it." Casey said, pouring herself a drink.

"I know. I'll call her later. Take care." Cragen said before hanging up.

Casey sighed and looked down at her drink. _How hypocritical of me._ She just shrugged and drank some. Olivia walked back out and leaned against the kitchen wall. "You know, you really shouldn't be drinking right now." She mocked, imitating Casey.

"I thought you were sleeping?" Casey said, putting the glass on the counter.

"I couldn't." Olivia said, looking down at her hands.

"I talked to Cragen. He wants you to see a counselor." Casey started.

"What?!" Olivia said, shocked.

"And he's giving you time off."

"What?!" Olivia repeated. "No! I don't want to take time off and I don't need to see a counselor." Olivia shouted, not pointed at Casey, but in general.

"Liv, calm down. Just try it, it might help." Casey said stepping closer to her.

"I don't need help!" Olivia yelled, even angrier.

"Just like you didn't need help when you were with Elliot?" Casey said, knowing she was crossing a line. Olivia's jaw dropped and she just stared at Casey. "Look, Liv, I didn't mean-"

Olivia closed her mouth and glared at Casey hard before she grabbed her phone, didn't even bother to get a jacket and walked out of the house, slamming the door.

"Damn it!" Casey shouted at herself. She grabbed the glass of whiskey and drank it down before grabbing her phone and coat and going after Olivia. She saw her heading far down the street. "Liv! Wait!" Casey yelled. Olivia either ignored her or didn't hear. She started running toward her. By the time she caught up to her, she was out of breath. "Olivia." Casey said and put a hand on her shoulder.

Olivia jumped, spun around and flung her arm out. She smacked Casey across the face, by accident. "Casey? Oh god. I didn't know it was you. I'm sorry. You scared me."

"It's okay, Liv." Casey said, with her hand on her face. Olivia was stronger than she looked. "I didn't mean what I said like that. I just… I want to help you."

Olivia looked at her and tears began filling her eyes again. "I just want to forget about it."

"You know better than that. If you bury it down it's-"

"I know!" Olivia exasperated. "I know all about that."

"Then why subject yourself to it?" Casey said, trying to convince her to talk to someone. "You've been through a lot and you're a good cop. You need to get through this and you can't do that if you keep it bottled inside you."

Olivia turned away from Casey and wrapped her arms around herself. "I'll be fine. I just need some air." She said angrily and started walking away again.

"I am not going to let this destroy you, Olivia!" Casey yelled, grabbing Olivia's hand to stop her. "If you won't see one, I'll tell Cragen you can't return to work unless you do."

Olivia spun around to face her, ripping her hand from Casey's grasp, eyes full of fury. "You think you can walk around and control me, just like he did?!" Olivia screamed at her. Casey was shocked at the furiousity in her voice, even though it shook. "That you can just tell me what to do and I'm going to lie down and take it because why wouldn't I if I let him do all of that to me?!"

"Liv, I-" Casey stammered out.

"It doesn't matter, Casey!" Olivia shouted, turned on heel and took off running.

Casey wanted to chase after her, but people were staring and she didn't want to upset Olivia even more. She pulled out her phone and called Cragen.

"Casey?"

"So I talked to Olivia, sort of, about counseling." She started.

"How'd she take it?" Cragen asked.

"She took off."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I told her and she walked out the door and then we were talking in the street and kind of got into an argument and then she just took off." Casey said.

"I'll have her detail let me know what's going on and have them bring her back, it's getting dark out." Cragen said, and then he hung up the phone.

Olivia knew she shouldn't have yelled at Casey, but she was frustrated and wanted to be alone. Her phone started to ring. Expecting it to be Casey, Olivia answered, "What?"

"Hey, Liv." Olivia stopped dead when she heard Elliot's voice. "I want to see you, to talk to you." She didn't know what to say, so she just listened as Elliot kept talking. "I want to tell you that I'm going into therapy, and I wanted to apologize in person."

"Uh, that's not a good idea, Elliot." Olivia said, jogging back toward Casey.

"Stop running, Olivia. There's nothing to be afraid of." He growled through the phone.

She froze. "Where are you?" She said, looking around.

"That doesn't matter. So, Liv, when do you want to talk?" He said.

"I-I don't. I'm glad you're going into therapy, but I don't want to see you." She hung up on him and looked around before sprinting back to where she left Casey. She saw her on the phone and kept running. Once Casey hung up to the phone, Olivia called her name.

Casey spun to see Olivia running toward her, white as a ghost. "What's wrong? What happened?" She asked, running to meet her.

"He called me. He said he wants to talk to me and he's watching me." Olivia spilled out, grabbing onto Casey's arm. "Why can't he just leave me alone?" She sobbed.

"What do you mean he's watching you?" Casey asked.

"I started running and he told me to stop." Olivia said, looking around.

"Okay, let's get you some place safe." She called Cragen back and let him know what happened. He was going to send Munch and Fin to Casey's house and they started jogging back. "What time did he call you?"

"Why does that even matter?" Olivia asked. "I don't have a protection order or anything."

"We can get you one." Casey said.

"A piece of paper won't stop him, nothing will." Olivia said, plopping onto the couch once they got back.

There was a knock on the door and the girls heard Fin call inside. "Casey? Olivia?" Casey got up and opened the door. Fin and Munch walked in and shut the door behind them.

Munch walked over to Olivia, "You look terrible."

"Thank you, John." Olivia said, throwing a near-by box of tissues at him.

"Come on, Liv. I didn't mean it like that. Have you been sleeping?" Munch asked. Olivia just shook her head.

"So what do we do about Elliot?" Casey butted in.

"Well, once we find him, we'll keep an eye on him until he messes up again."

"If that happens someone is going to get hurt, and that someone will be me." Olivia said, exhausted.

"We won't let that happen, Olivia." Fin said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Everyone is out there looking for him, he won't get near you."

"When he called I started running and he told me to stop. He's watching me." Olivia said, her voice shaking. "I don't know what to do."

"I don't think you should stay here. He knows that you're here, and if he is indeed watching you, he'll be watching the house too. We need to somehow sneak you out and get you somewhere safe." Munch said.

"And how would we do that?" Olivia asked. "If he's watching me, he'll see me leave and follow me to where ever I would go."

"You could stay at the precinct?" Casey suggested.

"For the rest of my life?" Olivia retorted.

"Come on, Liv. It's not a bad idea." Fin said, looking out the window. "There are always cops around and everyone knows what he looks like."

"And everyone will know I'm hiding." Olivia sighed.

"You have good reason to. He tried to kill you, Olivia." Munch said.

"I just want him to leave me alone." Olivia said, pulling her knees up to her chest.

Olivia jumped when her phone started ringing again. "It's Elliot." She said, staring at her phone.

"Answer it, on speaker phone." Fin said, walking over to her.

"Hello?" Olivia said, as casually as possible.

"Hi, sweetie." Elliot said.

Olivia cringed and said, "What do you want, Elliot?"

"Take me off speaker phone, Liv." Elliot demanded.

She did as she was told then held the phone up to her ear. "What do you want?" She repeated.

"It wasn't very nice of you to hang up on me, when all I want to do is apologize." Elliot said, trying to manipulate her.

"Well, I'm not ready to hear an apology from you. I just want you to leave me alone." Olivia said, holding her knees tighter.

"You know I can't do that, Liv. I care about you, and I want to make sure you're okay." He said, sincerely.

"I'd be okay if you would just stay out of my life." Olivia argued back.

"I just want what we had back, before all of this." Elliot explained.

"Me too, but you ruined that when you tried to rape me." Olivia snapped.

"Don't use that tone with me." Elliot yelled into the phone, making Olivia jump. "We can agree to meet somewhere, or I will find one way or another to talk to you in person." He said, with a very dark tone.

Olivia started tearing up and shaking. "Where would you like to meet?" Olivia ignored the looks she got from Munch, Fin and Casey.

"That's better. How about Meloni's at 9?" He suggested.

She checked her watch and it was 7:45. "Okay."

"And come alone. I'll know if you bring anyone else." Elliot said before hanging up.

"What the hell was that?" Fin said.

"I'm meeting him at Meloni's at 9." Olivia said, setting her phone down. "Alone."

"Olivia, are you crazy?!" Casey shouted.

"Don't yell at me, Casey." Olivia said, shooting a glare at her. "He said whether I come willingly or not, he would find me."

Casey felt bad for yelling, but she was terrified for her friend. "I'm sorry, Liv, but you can't go out and meet him alone, especially at night."

"Either I go and meet him or-" Olivia stopped to think about what he would do if she didn't show up. She didn't want to go there. She looked at Fin.

"Munch and I will be parked around the corner, Casey, you can drop her off." Fin said. "I'm not letting you get hurt, Olivia."


	5. Chapter 5

It was almost 9 o'clock when Casey dropped Olivia off, and waited until she was inside to drive off. She didn't like this at all, even if Olivia was wearing a wire.

Olivia took a seat in the farthest booth from the door, facing the entrance. Elliot walked in about five minutes later. He looked around and when his eyes landed on her, he smiled. Olivia's heart was pounding as he walked over and took a seat. "How are you, Liv?" He said, staring into her eyes. He had a bruise on his cheek from where Olivia had punched him in the courthouse. _Nice change, he's the one with the bruises._

"I'm fine." She said quietly and avoiding eye contact.

The waiter walked up, "What can I get started for you two tonight?"

"I'll have water." Elliot said.

"Can I get a beer?" Olivia asked, she needed something to calm her nerves.

"You sure about that, Olivia?" Elliot said. His leg made contact with hers under the table.

She looked back at the waiter, "Uh, water is fine." He looked at Elliot funny and walked off.

"What was that for?" She asked him, moving her legs out of reach.

"Well, if I'm not drinking, you shouldn't either." Elliot said. Olivia just rolled her eyes and looked down at the table. "You're not very talkative tonight." He observed.

"You're the one who wanted to talk, not me." She snapped at him, while still looking down.

"Hey." He said sternly, making her jump and look up at him. His eyes were empty. "There's no need for hostility."

"Right." She said, looking through the rest of the bar.

"Aren't you interested in what I have to say?" He asked, leaning forward. She just looked at him. "Well, I'm going to tell you anyway. I started going to AA meetings and I'm really getting help." He pulled out a 30-day sober badge from his pocket.

"Good for you." Olivia said very unenthusiastically.

The waiter walked up with their drinks and placed them on the table.

Olivia reached for hers, but Elliot grabbed her hand. Her whole body tensed as she looked at him, angry. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. She ripped her hand away from him and said, "Knock it off, Elliot." She grabbed her glass and drank some, while Elliot licked his lips.

"I'll be right back." Elliot got up and walked into the bathroom

"Liv, you doing okay?" Fin asked over the earpiece.

"Yeah," Olivia whispered. "I just want this to be over."

Olivia sighed and drank more water. She was looking out the window when Elliot sat back down, making her jump. "Sorry, Liv. I didn't mean to scare you."

"Why are you doing this?" Olivia asked, playing with the straw in her glass.

"Doing what?" He asked, tilting his head slightly.

"Following me. Why can't you leave me alone?" Olivia asked softly.

"I miss you." He said, but he didn't sound sincere. He sounded controlling.

"You don't miss me. You miss controlling me and hurting me." Olivia whispered.

Elliot leaned forward and grabbed Olivia's hand again. "I care about you." He said.

She tried wrenching her hand from him, but he held on tight. "Let go of me, Elliot." She demanded.

He grabbed her wrist and let go of her hand, "Let's dance, Olivia."

"No. Don't touch me." Olivia hissed, trying to pull her arm free.

Elliot barely even noticed as he hauled Olivia from the booth and walked out to the middle of the bar. He let go of her wrist, but the same hand snaked its way around her waist and the other went to caress her cheek.

She moved her head to the side and pushed him away, furious. "Is this your way of apologizing?" she spat.

"Yes." He put one hand on her cheek and the other around the back of her neck, leaned in and kissed her.

"Get off me!" Olivia yelled, trying to push him away.

The bartender saw what was going on and approached them. 'Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. You're causing a disturbance."

"So be it." Elliot said calmly. He took a hold of Olivia's hand and started pulling her out of the bar.

"I'm not going with you, Elliot. We talked, aren't you happy?" She said, trying to pry his hand off hers without making a scene.

He turned to face her. "No, I'm not." His eyes were dark and angry. Olivia swallowed a lump in her throat and was glad Munch and Fin were just around the corner.

He kept pulling her out of the bar and once they were on the street she really started fighting him off. She elbowed him in the ribs and yanked her hand back. She took off running towards Fin and Munch. Before she reached the corner, Elliot kicked her legs out from under her and she hit the ground hard.

"Fin! Help me!" Olivia yelled as Elliot pulled her to her feet.

He held her by her throat against the wall. "I thought I told you to come alone?!" He yelled at her, cutting off her airway. She tried kicking him, but he shoved his knee into her hip, the same hip that he had shot her in. With his free hand, he pushed a hard fist into her stomach. She was trying to pry his fingers from her neck when she heard their sirens turn on. "Damn it, Olivia." He yelled. He spun around and threw her down, hitting her head on the concrete and knocking the wind out of her. He kicked her once more in the stomach before running off the other direction.

Olivia was writhing in pain and gasping for breath in the street when the squad car came into view. Munch jumped out and Fin sped off to try to find Elliot.

"Olivia, what happened?" Munch asked, running over to Olivia. He saw that she was struggling for air. "Take deep breaths, Liv. It's going to be okay." After a minute or so, she caught her breath.

"My head." She groaned, trying to sit up.

"Woah, hold on. Just lay down for a minute." Munch said, with a hand on her shoulder.

Fin's car came back into view, lights off, siren off. "Where's Elliot?" Munch asked Fin.

"He's gone." Fin said, stepping out of the car. "What the hell did he do?"

Olivia was sitting up, leaning against Munch. "He wanted me to leave with him. I tried running, but he knocked me down then he choked me up against the wall. He heard the sirens and threw me in the street and I hit my head. I couldn't breathe. He kicked me before he took off." Olivia explained, gritting her teeth through the pain. "What took you so long?"

"The wire started cutting in and out." Fin explained. "I'm sorry, Liv. This was a bad idea." Fin said, trying to help her back up. "Let's get to the hospital."

"I don't need to go to the hospital, Fin." Olivia insisted, standing up, with help from Munch.

"Liv, you just got your head slammed into concrete." Fin pointed out.

"I've had worse and didn't go to a hospital. I'm okay."

Munch and Fin just exchanged a look and figured she was too stubborn to not be okay.

"Fine. We're going to the precinct." Fin said, helping Olivia up and into the car.

Munch called Cragen to let them know they were on the way with Olivia and that they would explain when they got there. Olivia had one arm over Fin's shoulder and the other wrapped around her ribcage where Elliot kicked her. She was limping when she walked into the squad room and faced Cragen.

"What the hell happened?" Cragen asked, walking up to Fin and Olivia.

"It was my fault, Cap. I met up with Elliot at Meloni's." Olivia said, looking down. Cragen was too shocked to say anything. "I had a wire."

"Then how did this happen?" Cragen asked, still confused.

"The wire cut out, cap. We didn't hear what was going on until they were outside and I heard her call for us from down the street."

"Down the street? So you knew about this and no one chose to inform me on this?" Cragen asked, focusing on Olivia's injuries. "What did he do?"

"I'm okay, Captain." Olivia insisted.

"Liv." Cragen said, looking into her eyes. "What did he do to you?"

Olivia looked over at Munch who nodded and she took a deep breath. "It was going okay at first. We were just sitting. Then he grabbed my hand and wouldn't let go. 'Let's dance' he said. He pulled me over to the middle of the bar and tried to kiss me. The bartender came over and told him he needed to leave, so he grabbed my arm and pulled me out with him."

"It's okay, Olivia. What else did he do?" Cragen asked his voice full of concern.

"I elbowed him and he let go. I tried running to their car, but he tripped me and I fell. He pulled me up and pushed me into the wall. He choked me and was yelling at me, and then I heard the sirens turn on. He threw me down and kicked me, before taking off the other way. He knocked the wind out of me."

"You also hit your head on the ground, Liv." Munch added, helpfully.

"You what?" Cragen asked, standing up to inspect her head. "Liv, you need to get checked out."

"No, I don't. I'm fine. I just-"

"Olivia!" Casey called running into the squad room. "Munch called me." When Casey realized she was hurt, she said, "Oh god, did he hurt you?"

"I'm okay." Olivia said, lowering herself into her desk chair. Casey looked up at Munch and Fin, who both shrugged.

"Can you give us a minute?" Cragen said, looking at Fin, Munch and Casey, who all nodded and walked out.

"Captain, I'm fine, I-" Olivia started.

"You should have called me." Cragen said, pulling up Fins chair.

"I shouldn't have gone." She muttered.

"Why did you?"

"He told me either I come willingly or he would find a way to talk to me in person. I didn't want to find out what that meant." Olivia said, biting the inside of her cheek. Cragen sighed and Olivia's eyes started tearing up. "I'm sorry, Captain. I don't know what to do. It was stupid of me to go there tonight. I just want him to leave me alone. I want everything to be back to normal." She buried her head into her hands on her desk and started to cry.

"Hey," Cragen said, putting a hand on her back. She jumped, but didn't look up. "This isn't your fault. Elliot needs to get help, or jail time. He can't and won't keep hurting you. I'll make sure of it."

"How?" Olivia choked out. "We brought him to court and that didn't work. We don't even know where he is, but he knows where I am." Olivia felt so helpless.

"Why don't you try and get some rest, Liv? Well start looking for Elliot." Cragen said, standing up, offering a hand to Olivia. She just nodded and let Cragen help her up. She held onto his arm with one hand and held her ribs with the other. She finally laid down in the cribs and fell asleep.

She woke up the next morning with a headache and the pain in her ribs was worse than the night before. She sat up slowly, then stood and walked out to the squad room. Cragen was the only one there, because it was so early. She knocked on his office door and leaned against the wall. "Did you stay here all night?" She asked him.

"Yeah, paperwork." He said, winking. He glanced up at her and saw that she was still holding her ribs. Are you sure you don't want to get that checked out?"

"I'm sure it's nothing, probably just a bruise." She shrugged.

"You haven't looked at it?" Cragen asked, surprised. Olivia shook her head. "I'll call Melinda for you?" He said, picking up the phone.

"Captain it's not-"

"It's not a choice." He said. Olivia turned around and went to sit at her desk.

"She'll be up here in thirty." He called from his office. Olivia nodded. She tried to focus on paperwork on her desk, but every move she made hurt her ribs. She stood up and walked back to the cribs. She laid down and put her hands on her ribs. It hurt even to touch. She groaned and closed her eyes.

She woke up when she heard a knock on the door. "Yeah?"

Melinda walked in. "Cragen said you'd be here." Olivia just looked at her and nodded, sadly. "Want to tell me what happened?" She asked.

"Not really." Olivia said. Melinda frowned. Olivia saw this and sighed. "He kicked me."

Melinda walked over to where Olivia was laying and put her hands under her shirt on her ribs. She moved them around and Olivia tried not to move too much. Melinda put her hands on the exact spot that Elliot kicked and pushed down slightly. Olivia gasped, jumped out of reach. "Okay, let me look." Melinda pulled up her shirt and noticed the area was dark purple. She also noticed a smaller bruise in the middle of her stomach. "What's this from?" She asked, running her hand over it.

"He pushed his fist into my stomach, while he choked me." Olivia said quietly, holding back tears.

"Oh, Liv." Melinda said, still examining her ribs. She put her hand over the bruise again, Olivia tensed. "It'll just be a second." Melinda pushed her hand slightly onto her ribs and Olivia groaned. "I think he cracked a rib." She said, taking her hand off of the bruise.

"Great." Olivia muttered. "To the hospital?" She asked, sitting up.

"You need an X-ray, and if it is broken, we can prescribe pain medication." Melinda said, helping her up. Olivia held onto Melinda for support as they walked over to Cragens office. "Don? I think Olivia's rib is cracked. Maybe more than one; we're going to get an X-ray."

"Okay. Stay safe and call me with the results." He said, waving them off.

They arrived at the hospital and got into the X-ray pretty quick. Olivia had two cracked ribs. The doctor walked in with her prescription. She had two take one every twelve hours, to ease the pain.

They were walking back to the car when Melinda's phone rang. "Hello? What? No, I'll be there. Okay." She looked at Olivia. I have to go. Will you call Cragen to come pick you up?"

"I'll just take a cab." Olivia said.

"Okay. Take care; I'll come see you soon." Melinda jumped in her car and took off.

Olivia headed to the nearest road to catch a cab. She had no luck, so she decided to walk. She could see the precinct from where she was standing. After a few minutes of walking, her ribs started to ache. She looked at how far she had to go and it was still several blocks down the road. "Damn it." She muttered.

"Olivia!"


	6. Chapter 6

_Olivia headed to the nearest road to catch a cab. She had no luck, so she decided to walk. She could see the precinct from where she was standing. After a few minutes of walking, her ribs started to ache. She looked at how far she had to go and it was still several blocks down the road. "Damn it." She muttered. _

"_Olivia!" _

Her heart stopped. She grabbed her gun whipped around to see Alex jogging toward her.

"Alex, you scared the hell out of me." Olivia said, her heart still racing.

"I could say the same." Alex said, glancing at the gun. "What are you doing walking by yourself?"

"Melinda had to go do something, so I figured I'd walk back to the precinct." She said putting the gun back in its holder.

"From where?"

"Uh, the hospital." Olivia said, looking forward.

"What?" Alex stopped and grabbed Olivia's hand to stop her too. "What happened?"

"I cracked some ribs." Olivia said calmly. "Let's keep walking, it's freezing."

"How did you do that?" Alex asked, still focused on Olivia. Olivia didn't say anything. "Liv, was it Elliot?"

"Yeah." She said. "He kicked me last night."

"What happened?"

"Oh, Alex, it's a long story." Olivia complained.

"Well, we have a long walk to the precinct." Alex pointed out.

Olivia sighed and went on to tell Alex what happened the night before. "It's my fault. I was stupid enough to go see him."

"You didn't ask him to attack you like that. You were trying to work things out; he's the one who's at fault." Alex said, nudging Olivia.

"Thank god, we're here." Olivia had her arms wrapped around herself, partially from the cold, but mostly from the pain. She walked back into the squad room and looked up to see Cragen facing her.

"What happened? I didn't hear from Melinda and I got worried." Cragen said.

"I walked back. Melinda had to go do something." Olivia explained.

"You what?! Why didn't you call? I would have come picked you up."

"Well, I'm safe, so it's okay." Olivia snapped at him. She was sick of everyone treating her like she was fragile.

"So, what did the X-ray show?" He asked, sitting back at his desk.

"Two cracked ribs." She said.

"I knew it!" Fin called, walking in and over hearing her conversation.

"Spare me the 'I-told-you-so', Fin. I'm not in the mood." Olivia snapped. She stepped further into Cragens office and shut the door behind her. "Anything else?" She asked him.

"Did you get anything to help with the pain?" He asked.

She lifted her hand with the bottle of pills and shook it. "I'm going to the cribs." She said, turning around and walking across the squad room, without looking at anyone. She was still holding her ribs limping slightly.

She woke up and felt slightly better. She figured it was the pain medication finally working. She went downstairs to see a blonde standing in the doorway, looking lost.

"Can I help you?" Olivia asked.

"I'm Amanda Rollins. I'm a new detective here." She said, making eye contact and held out her hand. "You must be Olivia Benson. I've heard a lot about you." She smiled. Olivia just barely picked up her southern accent.

"Oh, uh. Okay. Um, I need a word with the captain, go ahead and sit there." Olivia said pointing at Fin's desk and she walked into Cragen's office. "Captain? Why didn't you tell me we were getting a new detective?"

"Must have slipped my mind. We're been so busy and all." He glanced at Olivia. "You okay with that?"

"I'm going to have to be, I guess." She shrugged.

"Good. While we're on the subject, she's not the only newbie. Nick Amaro starts next week."

"Guess Munch, Fin and I have our hands full training for the next while." Olivia said, starting to head back out the door.

"Just Munch and Fin."

"Excuse me?" Olivia said, turning to face her captain.

"You're on desk duty, still, Olivia." He said, leaning forward.

She rolled her eyes and nodded. "Right." She walked out of his office and sat at her desk. Fin showed up a few minutes later and was surprised to see someone sitting at his desk. "Fin, this is our new detective, Amanda Rollins."

Amanda stood up to shake hands with him. "Nice to meet you." She said, smiling. He noticed that she made herself comfortable at his desk, so he went to Elliot's old desk. He glanced at Olivia, who was staring at nothing.

"Liv?" He said quietly. She didn't respond. "Olivia?" He said a little louder, getting her attention and that of Rollins as well. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, Fin." Olivia said, readjusting and wincing slightly.

"You don't look fine." He said, noticing that she looked exhausted.

"Drop it." She said lowly, shooting a glance at Amanda. "I'm going to lay down for a few. Wake me if we get anything, okay?" She stood up and felt light headed. She tried walking it off but her vision started getting fuzzy. "Fin." She mumbled, while holding onto a table.

Fin stood up and saw that Olivia was wobbly; he walked over to her and helped her walk to the cribs. When he walked back out, he noticed the concerned look on Amanda's face.

"Don't ask." He said, and sat back down. The two sat in silence for a while until the phone rang. "Fin. Where? Yeah, on my way." He hung up the phone and looked at Amanda.

"Rollins, do me a favor and go wake up Olivia for me, I need to speak with the captain." He said, rushing into Cragens office.

Rollins found her way to the cribs and called, "Benson?" Before peeking inside. Olivia was sitting up on a bed, but was in the middle of changing her shirt, when Rollins saw the bruise. "Olivia?" She said, a little louder. Olivia jumped up with her hand on her gun.

"Jesus, Rollins. You scared me." She said, pulling her shirt over herself.

"What happened?" She asked, motioning to her ribs.

"Uh," Olivia started before Fin rushed in.

"Liv, we gotta go." He said.

"I can't." Olivia said, with arms out. "Captain stuck me on my ass, remember?"

"I just talked to him. Let's go." She looked at Amanda, shrugged and gave a half smile before following Fin out the door. She was so relieved not only to be out of the precinct, but out of that awkward situation with Rollins.

On the way, Fin explained that there had been several 911 calls for domestic violence. Olivia took a deep breath as they approached the house. There were kids toys in the front yard and they heard a scream coming from inside. They pulled their guns and rushed in. There were two kids in the front room. One a toddler and one who looked to be maybe 8.

"It's okay, kids. Come with me." Olivia said, scooping up the toddler and taking the other by the hand.

Fin hunted through the rest of the house and found a woman beaten in a corner. "Liv, we're clear, send a bus!" He shouted. Olivia put the kids in the squad car and turned back to go inside the house. She had put her gun away and stepped into the living room, when a man turned the corner and ran into her. "Police don't move!" She shouted, pulling her weapon. He turned around and without giving her a chance to shoot; he lunged at her, smacking the gun from her hands. He wrapped his hands around her neck and kneed her in the stomach, just below her ribs. She was struggling to fight back and was in so much pain.

Fin came running into the room and put his gun to the back of the man's head. "Let her go! Now!" He yelled. The man easily threw Olivia onto the floor. "What are you an idiot?" Fin said, decking him square in the nose, knocking him out, before cuffing him. "Liv, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Olivia said shakily, holding her head in her hands, sitting on the floor. I just need a second. Once the ambulance got there, another squad car came to bring the husband into custody. Olivia and Fin dropped the kids off at CPS before heading back to the station.

Olivia was leaning heavily on Fin and taking deep breaths.

"What happened?" Cragen asked, watching Fin walk Olivia into the squad room.

"The perp attacked her." Fin explained, helping Olivia sit at her desk.

"Are you okay, Olivia?" Cragen asked, kneeling in front of her.

"I-I'm fine." She stuttered out. "I just… I couldn't."

"I know, Liv. It's okay." Cragen said.

"It was my fault. I went into the house without my gun in my hands. He ran into me and knocked the gun away before I could shoot him. He punched me in the stomach and was choking me, when Fin came in and he knocked me down."

"Olivia, you know this isn't your fault." Fin said.

Olivia pretended not to hear him. "I'm just going to go lay down." She pulled herself up, wincing and trudged off to the cribs. She took one pain killer and lay down on her back. She couldn't get comfortable, but eventually fell asleep.

The next day, Amanda was on her way to work when a stranger bumped into her. "Oh, excuse me." She said.

"It's no big deal." The man said. "Where you off to…?" He held out the pause as in asking her name.

"Amanda, and I'm just heading to work." She said simply.

"What do you do, Amanda?" He asked.

"I'm a cop." She said, laughing.

"Oh really?" He seemed intrigued. "Me too. You work over at the 1-6, right?" He questioned casually.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Lucky guess. Would you mind giving this to detective Benson for me?" He asked, handing her an envelope.

"Uh, sure." She said, taking it from his hands.

"Well, I gotta get going, have a good one, Amanda." He nodded and smiled then turned and walked away. She tucked the envelope into her purse and continued on her way to the precinct. She walked in and saw Olivia at her desk with a cup of coffee.

"You stay here all night?" She asked.

"Yeah." Olivia replied, seemingly exhausted.

"Uh, some guy asked me to give this to you."

"What is it?" She asked, not looking up.

"Just an envelope." She said, and set it on Olivia's desk. Olivia looked at it and noticed on the front it had her name written. She recognized the handwriting. She slowly opened it and read it. It was just a small message; "I miss you. I'll call you sometime. –El."

"When and where did you run into this person?" Olivia asked, slowly beginning to shake.

"Uh, just down the road at the coffee place maybe 25 minutes ago. Why? What is it?" Amanda asked.

Olivia ignored her and called Cragen, who has yet to show up.

"Cragen."

"Where are you?" She asked quickly.

"I'm almost there, why, what's wrong?" He asked.

"Uh," She glanced over at Amanda, who was slightly paying attention. "I'll explain when you get here, it's important."

"Okay. I'll be there soon." He said, hanging up the phone.

Olivia just stared down at the note. "Olivia?" Rollins called.

"Hm?"

"What's wrong?" She asked, walking over to her desk.

"Was this the man who gave you this?" Olivia reached over and picked up a framed picture of Elliot holding Eli and showed it to her.

"Yeah, that's him. Who is he?" Amanda asked.

"He's uh, my old partner."

"What happened? Things just not work out?"

"That's an understatement." Olivia chuckled as Cragen walked in the door.

"Olivia, my office." He said.

She got up, with the envelope and rushed into Cragens office, shutting the door behind her. "He gave this to Rollins and asked her to give it to me."

Cragen read over the note and looked up at her. She was shaking and holding back tears. "You are not to leave this building without someone with you and your gun on you." He was just trying to protect her.

"My gun didn't stop yesterday's perp, and it sure as hell didn't stop Elliot before." Olivia said, wrapping her arms around herself.

"He said he'll call you. When that happens, hopefully he'll stay on the line long enough so we can trace him." Cragen said.

"He was a cop for 12 years. He's not going to be that stupid." Olivia said, opening the door to leave.

"Liv." Cragen said, and she turned to look at him. "I'm sorry."

"I don't need anyone to feel sorry for me, I just need to feel safe again." She said and walked back to her desk, quickly realizing that Amanda heard what she just said to Cragen and was looking at her with a concerned expression. "It's not what you think." She tried.

"He's stalking you?" She assumed.

Olivia just sighed and sat at her desk. She put her head in her hands and started thinking. _What am I going to do. I can't stay at the precinct forever. What does he want from me?_

Olivia waited for that phone call. It hadn't come. Nick Amaro had started working with them a few days ago. They were working a case about a little girl who got kidnapped and it was really getting to Nick, being that he had a daughter. He was snapping at everyone.

Olivia walked out from the cribs and said, "How's the case going, guys?"

"You would know if you would have been out here." He glared at her.

"Watch yourself, Nick." Fin warned him.

"Is the captain in his office?" Olivia asked, ignoring Nick. Fin nodded and she headed over. She knocked and walked in, without waiting for him to let her in.

"Olivia?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I am not going to work with another detective with an anger issue." She stated. ." She stated. Her phone started ringing. She looked at the screen. **ELLIOT.**


End file.
